Rolling With the Punches
by Teacher Bear
Summary: With a wide variety of hurtles in her way, Teacher Bear begins to seriously doubt being able to take care of her current situation. Mean while, Tender Heart is having trouble adjusting to fatherhood. Part 2 of the series.


**Rolling With the Punches**

Chapter 1: A Temporary Home

Within about an hour, Dr. Arnoff had driven from the veterinary office in Philadelphia to his final destination in a town in Montgomery, PA called Willow Grove. "Here we are," he cheerfully called back to Teacher Bear and the cubs. "Home sweet temporary home!" He had hoped to get a chuckle back from Teacher Bear on his little joke, but she just let out a sigh and thanked Dr. Arnoff for bringing them to the shelter. Together they gathered up the cubs, some of which did not want to leave the ambulance because they were having too much fun, and went into Saint Anne's Homeless Shelter.

The woman in charge of the shelter, a plump, jolly woman, was quite surprised to see such colorful creatures entering her shelter. "Hello!" she chimed out to Teacher Bear and the Mulcahey cubs. Teacher Bear and Dr. Arnoff responded with a friendly "hello", however her salutation seemed to startle Charity Heart. The little red fox cub began to cry, which triggered a chain reaction in all of the cubs. Before they knew it, they had seven fussy babies on their hands.

Teacher Bear felt embarrassed by the cubs crying at the introduction. The shelter keeper on the other hand was not at all fazed by the cubs crying. She picked up Charity Heart and her brother, the orange weasel Thorough Heart, and was able to comfort them quickly.

Teacher Bear was amazed by the shelter keeper's abilities. She was holding the green hedgehog Grateful Heart in one arm, who seemed to quite down quickly on his own. The purple wolf Curious Heart continued to scream in her other arm. Dr. Arnoff had his hands full with the yellow billygoat Hungry Heart, the pink skunk Pretty Heart, and the blue badger Passive Heart, who started calming down sooner than expected.

Teacher Bear began to get anxious about Curious Heart's persistent crying. The shelter keeper offered to trade off Charity Heart for the crying wolf cub. Shortly after the exchange of baby animals, the shelter keeper was able to calm the baby wolf with her soft voice. Upon seeing this, Teacher Bear felt a bit ashamed. She had thought she could handle the wolf cub, but apparently she could not.

"Well, now that we have these darling little ones calmed down, what can I do ya for?" the shelter keeper said, her radiant smile beaming at the colorful Mulcahey family and the paramedic. "Um…" started Teacher Bear, "we need a place to stay for a while." "Oh dear!" the shelter keeper exclaimed. "What happened to you honey? I hope everything is alright." Teacher Bear explained how the tornado had hit the house that she and Mrs. Mulcahey had been living in and how she had found the cubs.

"Well Miss Mulcahey, that's quite a story!" the shelter keeper said after her new guest had finished explaining the story in a nutshell. "Yes, I must admit that it is," Teacher Bear replied. "Oh, and my name is Bluebelle Mulcahey, but hear of late, everyone has been calling me Teacher Bear. I've gotten rather partial to using my new nickname though." With a smile, the shelter keeper said "Oh my! I didn't realize you were a teacher! My name is Mrs. Alice McBride." She then extended her hand cordially, to which Teacher Bear shook it weakly. The bear looked down at the floor in her reply, "I'm… not actually a teacher. Mrs. Mulcahey was a teacher, and the vet and nurses called me "the teacher's bear" and it caught on." Mrs. McBride felt very bad for making a hasty assumption, but Teacher Bear reassured her. "I've always wanted to be a teacher anyway," she said, now having the worry of getting her teaching degree to add to her already steadily growing pile of worries.

"Very well Teacher Bear," the shelter keeper said. "I'm going to need you to sign some papers for me so that we can get you and the little ones squared away." With that, Mrs. McBride handed Teacher Bear a clip board with some papers on it.

As soon as Teacher Bear and Dr. Arnoff finished the paper work, Mrs. McBride showed them to a room full of cots with a few cribs. "This is where you and the children will be staying," she explained. "I'm afraid it's not very private, but it's the best we can do."

Indeed, it was not private. Snoring loudly in the last bed was a man that looked like he had been taken right off the streets. He was still in his clothes, and they looked like they had not been washed in years. His hair and beard were filthy and scraggly. A few beds over from him lay a man in his underwear and t-shirt. Mrs. McBride explained that this man would have to be awoke in a few hours to go to work. He was what Mrs. McBride called a "revisiting visitor." "He goes out on his own for a while, and then begins his drinking habit all over again bringing him back to square one," she explained. She explained that there were other "revisiting visitors," but they were either at some kind of work or were on their own at the moment. "Each time one of the 'revisiting visitors' leaves my shelter, I pray that they never have to come back. Sometimes they don't come back at all, but more often than not they do." The thought of being a "revisiting visitor" began to worry Teacher Bear a great deal. She wouldn't admit it to Mrs. McBride, but she was concerned about being able to financially provide for the children.

Dr. Arnoff had to leave Teacher Bear and the cubs to go back to his job. Teacher Bear hugged him and thanked him for all that he had done for her and her new family. "If you ever need me Teacher Bear, just let me know," he told her as he handed her a business card. She had a feeling that he would keep his word, which was a small relief from some of her worries.

As soon as Dr. Arnoff left, Mrs. McBride turned to the Mulcahey family and suggested that they get some fresh clothing, especially since the little ones were wearing nothing more than diapers. Teacher Bear thought that that would be a good idea, especially since the yellow seersucker dress she was still wearing was ruined from the tornado.

Mrs. McBride lead them into a room filled with donated things. Teacher Bear lead the cubs over to a clothing bin to look for something that would fit them. She had also found plenty of bibs, bonnets, booties, bows, diapers, and whatever else for the children. After dressing the cubs, Teacher Bear decided to put them into one of the cribs to take a nap. She then went back to the storage room to look for something for her to wear.

After the clothing problem was settled, Mrs. McBride suggested that Teacher Bear take it easy for a while. She knew from the story about the tornado that her new visitor could use some time to relax. She handed the navy blue bear a worn out book to read. "Thank you Mrs. McBride, for everything," Teacher Bear said as she lay down in a bed next to the crib where the sleeping cubs lay.

Just as she was getting into the story, Teacher Bear heard one of the cubs begin to cry. Grateful Heart was holding his stumpy arm and crying in pain. She knew that she had to give him some of the pain medication that Dr. Miller had given her.

She picked up the crying hedgehog, who had woken up some of the other cubs, and sat on the bed with him in her arms. Mrs. McBride heard the crying and came to see if she could help. Teacher Bear explained to her about the medicine, so Mrs. McBride dashed off to the kitchen and returned with a spoon and a bottle of juice. Teacher Bear poured the medicine onto the spoon as some of the other cubs looked through the bars of the crib with curiosity.

Teacher Bear then put the spoon near Grateful Heart's mouth and said "Open up sweetie. This will help the pain go away." Grateful Heart was confused. Didn't know why his guardian was holding something up to his mouth, he just wanted the pain to go away. "Owwie Tetur Bar," he said tearfully as he tried to explain his pain, holding his stumpy arm. While he babbled, Teacher Bear tried to give him the medicine. He continued to fuss as Teacher Bear continued to try giving him his medicine.

Mrs. McBride asked if she could give it a try. "Let me try it again," Teacher Bear said as she held the spoon close to the hedgehog's protesting mouth. Grateful Heart was beginning to get aggravated by the spoon and pushed it away, causing the medicine to dribble all over his shirt. Teacher Bear was ashamed that she was having difficulties and didn't want the shelter keeper's help, but she knew that for Grateful Heart's own good she would need it. With a sigh, she handed over the baby and a fresh spoonful of medicine.

Mrs. McBride took the cub and medicine and began to show Teacher Bear a good way to get babies to take medicine. "Now the trick is to put the spoon to one side of the mouth and rub the cheek next to the spoon with your thumb," Mrs. McBride said. "This triggers the rooting instinct, the instinct that causes the baby to want to suckle." Sure enough, Grateful Heart moved his head and opened his mouth from having his cheek rubbed. Upon ingesting the medicine, he began coughing and sputtering madly. "Uck! Ewwww! WAAAAA! Tetur Bar! WAAAAAAA! TETUR BAAAAAR!" he began screaming.

Because of Grateful Heart's screaming, all the cubs were awake and beginning to fuss. This triggered a chain reaction of crankiness with the others sleeping in some of the other cots. Mrs. McBride handed the screaming hedgehog back to Teacher Bear so that she could work on settling the crib full of crying babies. Teacher Bear held him and decided to try the same trick with the thumb on the cheek to try to get Grateful Heart to accept the bottle of juice. Sure enough, it worked. He soon settled down as he drank the juice.

The label on the medicine said that it would cause drowsiness, so Teacher Bear knew that Grateful Heart would need to go back to sleep. She put him back in the crib with the others, but the others seemed to want attention too. Curious Heart crawled up to Teacher Bear and held out his arms to be picked up. After Teacher Bear picked him up, Thorough Heart crawled up to the bars of the crib and did the same thing. When Teacher Bear picked him up, all the other cubs wanted to be held.

Mrs. McBride helped hold some of the cubs. Teacher Bear was not fond of the shelter keeper doing this, but at least it helped calm the children down some. After each one had been held, Teacher Bear weakly thanked Mrs. McBride. Grateful Heart went back to sleep quickly because of the medication, but the rest of the cubs were still wide awake and restless. They wanted to get out of the crib and do something else. Mrs. McBride suggested taking the rest of the cubs to the playroom while Grateful Heart slept. Teacher Bear agreed with the shelter keeper and helped her carry the children to the playroom.

Once inside the playroom, the children's eyes lit up. They had never seen such colorful toys. The helpers in charge of the playroom agreed to keep an eye on cubs for them.

After leaving the playroom, Teacher Bear let out another long sigh. Mrs. McBride could tell that something was bothering the navy blue bear. "Teacher Bear," Mrs. McBride inquired, "are you alright?" Teacher Bear looked blankly at Mrs. McBride. Mrs. McBride looked deep into the bear's eyes and could tell that something was bothering her, but did not want to pry for fear of negative feedback.

Indeed, Teacher Bear did not feel like talking about her doubts and fears on being a single parent to seven orphaned children. She felt that she could handle her problem by herself. She was beginning to feel incompetent whenever she started to do something, seemed to do it incorrect, and Mrs. McBride came in and seemed to have to almost fix the problems for her. With that, Teacher Bear turned around sadly, not answering Mrs. McBride's prompting question.

"Miss Bluebelle," Mrs. McBride called out to her, "if it's about the death of your mother, I understand." Teacher Bear stopped walking. "She wasn't my mother," she said back softly, not even turning around, "but I cared for her like one." She then let out a sigh and began walking again. As she began her slow walk towards her bed, she called out, "Later on we need to make funeral arrangements." Mrs. McBride watched the troubled bear walk down the hallway until she disappeared around a corner. "Poor soul," Mrs. McBride thought to herself. "I've got to do what I can to help her."

Chapter 2: A Time for Change

Deep in the middle of Care-A-Lot, two new parents were sleeping after a long day. They had gone to bed unusually early that day because they were worn out from their first full day with their new son and from all the visitors coming to see him. Love-A-Lot was sleeping peacefully, but Tender Heart had a look of worry on his face as he slept. He clutched the sheets that covered him tightly as he was having a dream that didn't set well with him.

In his dream, he was playing a game of "roll the ball" outside with Big Heart. Big Heart seemed to be having a marvelous time grabbing the large rubber ball and throwing it to his father, who was all to ready to catch it. They were both having a wonderful time when all of the sudden, Big Heart fell through the clouds. Tender Heart quickly ran to the hole in which his son had fallen through, hoping to retrieve him. Instead, he was shocked to see his son falling through a hole of pure blackness. Tender Heart felt helpless as his son's crying becoming more and more distant as the darkness engulfed him.

Tender Heart sat up quickly with a look of horror on his face from his terrible dream. He was still breathing heavily when he saw his son's star buddy hovering over his head, indicating that Big Heart needed a diaper change.

The squawking star buddy woke his wife. Love-A-Lot sleepily rolled over and ran her hand over her face when she heard the star buddy. She began to sit up so that she could attend to her son when Tender Heart put his hand on her shoulder. "Little star buddy said the baby needs a diaper change. I'll get it," he said with a nervous smile to his sleepy wife. He had never changed a diaper in his life which made him rather nervous, but he knew she was still in need of rest from giving birth the day before. She gave him a grateful smile as she rolled back onto her side to get some more sleep.

Tender Heart slid out of bed and followed the star buddy into the baby's room. As soon as he opened the door, he was met with loud crying and the sent of fresh baby poop. He winced at the pungent smell as he entered the room.

"Calm down, Big Heart," he said in a gentle voice as he picked the day old baby up. Upon being picked up, Big Heart began to calm down slightly. The star buddy then lit itself up so that Tender Heart could see what he was doing better. The brown bear walked his baby over to the bassinette where the star was hovering. He then placed the baby down on top of the bassinette to change the offensive smelling diaper.

Tender Heart Bear gingerly undid the soiled diaper. As he did so, he caught sight of the diaper's content. "Oh my word!" he said as he looked down at what was left in the diaper. "What is your mother feeding you! It's greener than Good Luck Bear!" Big Heart giggled at his father's tone and grossed out facial _expression as he continued to remove the diaper. The star buddy hovering above began to giggle at Tender Heart's antics. The disgusted bear shot the glowing star a dirty look. "You wouldn't be laughing so loud if you had to do this," he mumbled under his breath as he began to wipe his son's bottom with a moist wipe.

Just as he finished wiping, Tender Heart discovered that Big Heart was not quite done using his diaper. The baby began to piddle all over his father's front half. Tender Heart stood frozen in shock, covered in baby urine. The star buddy began slapping his knees with laughter. "I didn't know babies could do that," he said numbly to himself as urine dripped from his brown fur. The star buddy recommended between giggling fits that he go get himself a towel from the closet across the hall while he watched the baby. Tender Heart was glad to leave the room full of giggles to dry himself off. He was looking forward to having diaper time over so that he could take a shower.

He had just put the towel on himself when he heard the star buddy squeaking from the bedroom. "Now what," he thought to himself as he turned around to see what all the squeaking was about. "Oh no!" he exclaimed as he saw that Big Heart was about to roll off the bassinette.

Tender Heart ran for the cub when he slipped on his towel and landed right in front of the bassinette. As soon as he landed on the ground, the cub landed on top of him. After the cub landed safely on his father's back, he began to cry loudly. Love-A-Lot heard the commotions from her bedroom and dashed into the baby's room to see what all the fuss was about.

"Tender Heart Bear! What on earth is going on in here?!?" she screeched out in horror at the site of the cub bawling on his father's back. She picked up the crying cub, who settled almost instantly as she gently spoke to him. Tender Heart felt like a total failure as he watched his son being perfectly content with his mother.

Tender Heart explained the whole story to his wife as he braced himself for her response. "You never leave a baby alone in such a dangerous place, not even for a second!" she explained. "He could have fallen and caused serous injury! He's very fragile! What do you have to say for yourself?!?" The moist bear shrank in her glare. "Um…Good thing the star buddy warned me?" he answered apprehensively. This was not the answer Love-A-Lot was wanting.

"Maybe I should take over for you," she said, obviously unimpressed with her husband. "Please give me another chance," Tender Heart begged his wife. She looked at him suspiciously as he pleaded with her. With a long sigh, she agreed to give him another chance.

She delicately handed Big Heart to his father, who was smiling from the second chance. "I won't mess up this time and leave him alone, Love-A-Lot. I promise," he told his wife as she handed him the baby. She gave him a small smile. "File this in your FYI while you're at it. Put a few towels in the bassinette," she said jokingly. Tender Heart couldn't help smiling at his wife's little joke, but he was definitely going to take the suggestion of towels in the bassinette seriously.

"Come on little man. Let's get a diaper on you so that you can go back to bed," he said as he looked down at the now calm baby. He then looked at his wife and was just about to tell her goodnight when he heard a strange noise come from the cub. Big Heart had made another bowel movement while in his father's arms. "Um…I'll clean that up too," he said as he indicated the fresh steaming pile of baby poop on the floor. "Come on little star buddy," he said to his son's giggling guardian star. "And stop giggling!"

*****

"Please hold still while I change you!" Teacher Bear said to a protesting Hungry Heart as she began to change his soiled diaper. "Teka Bat! AAAAAHH!" exclaimed the little yellow billygoat cub, kicking and squealing playfully as she began to undo the plastic fasteners.

It was during this commotion that Mrs. McBride stuck her smiling head around the corner. "There you are Teacher Bear! I was beginning to get worried," she said to the flustered bear. "Hi Mrs. McBride," Teacher Bear said with a forced smile. "I've got everything under control if that's what you're wondering." The shelter keeper saw that the navy blue bear was struggling with the diaper change and came over to her side to investigate.

"Hmm… He's a feisty one. He doesn't seem to want that thing off just yet," Mrs. McBride said with a smile. "Gross as this may sound, sometimes they like to sit in their dirty diaper for a bit while it's still warm. Psychiatrists say it reminds them of the womb." Teacher Bear slowly turned her head toward the shelter keeper and gave her a look that read as astonished and disgusted. "I think he needs it changed whether he's comfy or not," Teacher Bear said as calmly as she could. Not only was she grossed out by the last comment, but Mrs. McBride's nosiness was beginning to chip away at her. She then turned back to the baby goat to finish undoing the fasteners.

As soon as the fasteners were undone, Mrs. McBride took a rag from the changing station and put it in front of Hungry Heart's groin. "Why on earth did you do that!" Teacher Bear said, starting to show signs of aggravation. "Sometimes they're not done yet! Better covered than wet," she said in a matter-of-fact tone of voice. Before Teacher Bear could protest, the rag over the billygoat's business had begun to moisten. "Teka Bat!" Hungry Heart giggled as the cloth continued to dampen. "Little boys are bad about spraying," Mrs. McBride added at the sight of the wetness.

Teacher Bear gave her a little smile as she knelt down to get a box of wipes. "So what if you were right, he's still my boy," she thought to herself as she began to wipe Hungry Heart's bottom with a moist wipe. Mrs. McBride continued to look over Teacher Bear's shoulder as she continued to change the cub. "What are you doing back there, evaluating my work?" Teacher Bear continued to think to herself. "Take a picture, it'll last longer!" At this point, a sarcastic smile had crept across her face.

Once the diaper was successfully in place, Teacher Bear turned around to Mrs. McBride with a triumphant smile. "Excellent Teacher Bear!" Mrs. McBride congratulated. "Now my husband, Butler, will be serving dinner soon. Why don't we get out the old baby carriage for the children so that we can all get something to eat." Teacher Bear was relieved to hear a compliment come from the shelter keepers mouth rather than another piece of parental advice. "That would be good," she replied with a genuine smile.

After receiving the compliment, she turned back around to pick up the baby billygoat from the changing station. Hungry Heart had calmed down significantly since the diaper had been removed and was happy to be picked up. "There now, little one. That wasn't so bad now, was it?" Teacher Bear said to Hungry Heart as she picked him up.

Teacher Bear's spirits lifted as she admired the success of the fresh diaper change. However, her triumphant feeling was short lived. Just as she lifted Hungry Heart off the table, his diaper slipped off of his bottom. The baby billygoat giggled as the bear let out an "I can't win" sigh. "AAAHH! Teka Bat! Teka Bat!" the diaperless billygoat giggled.

"You must not have fastened it right," Mrs. McBride said at the sight of the fallen diaper. "Let me show you how to do it." Teacher Bear shook her head. "I'll get the diaper, you get the carriage. Okay?" Mrs. McBride nodded uncomfortably. "Okay dear, but if you have any trouble, you know who to talk to!"

Teacher Bear forced another smile as the shelter keeper turned to get the carriage. As soon as she left, Teacher Bear turned to the giggling cub in her arms. "Okay little fella, let's try this again. And let's get it right this time!"

Chapter 3: Tonight's Special: Death Notices

Mrs. McBride was able to lower the carriage so that it would be easier for Teacher Bear to operate. Teacher Bear and Mrs. McBride had loaded all seven of the Mulcahey cubs into the large carriage and the bear began wheeling them toward the dining hall for dinner.

"Boy, it's like pushing a heavy wheel barrow!" Teacher Bear panted as she pushed the carriage into the dining hall. The cubs began peeking over the side of the carriage to look at their out of breath guardian. She let out an exhausted smile as she looked at the seven smiling faces.

Once inside the dining hall, she stopped for a moment to collect her strength. "I'm not as young as I used to be, my dear ones," she said to the children as she wiped the sweat from her forehead. She was about to pay some more attention to the children when she heard a voice behind her that nearly made her jump out of her tennis shoes. "Hello!" the deep voice said loudly and cheerfully. Teacher Bear turned around quickly to see a large man dressed in a cook's attire. "You must be Teacher Bear," he said. "My wife has told me all about you."

He held out his hand for the bear to shake. As he shook Teacher Bear's hand, he nearly knocked her off her feet, making the cubs giggle. "Oh, sorry. I guess I don't know my own strength sometimes," he said as Teacher Bear readjusted her glasses from the aftermath of the handshake. "That's okay, Mr. McBride," she responded weakly.

The cook laughed robustly at the shy little bear. "Call me Butler, honey," he said. "It's a nick name I've sort of earned here from serving the food and cleaning it up. Someone called me the butler one time and it caught on." Teacher Bear couldn't help smiling at the friendly cook.

Just as Teacher Bear was beginning to get comfortable talking with Butler, Mrs. McBride walked in. "Oh Butler, I see you've met Teacher Bear!" she said to her husband. "Do you have the children's formula ready?" He let out a warm smile. "Sure do!" he said as he walked back behind his serving counter. "Why don't you two have a seat and I'll bring out the formula and your dinners," he offered. The two ladies graciously accepted his offer and made their way to a table.

"Oh, how cute!" one of the shelter inmates said as Teacher Bear and Mrs. McBride wheeled the baby carriage full of cubs to the table. "Are they yours?" she questioned the shelter keeper. "Oh no, Janet dear," Mrs. McBride answered the woman dressed in a waitress attire, "their Teacher Bear's." Teacher Bear gave Janet a friendly wave from behind Mrs. McBride. Janet hadn't even noticed the navy blue bear and looked at her curiously. "What are you?" she asked the navy blue bear. "Um…I'm the children's guardian," Teacher Bear uncertainly answered the overly inquisitive Janet. "No, I mean what are you? I've never seen anything like you before," replied Janet.

This was beginning to make Teacher Bear uncomfortable. She remembered being questioned like this as a child and never liked it. "I'm a person just like you," she said. "I'm just a little different, that's all. And if you don't like it, than don't bother with me." She then began trying to turn the carriage around so that she could walk away.

"Calm down you two!" Mrs. McBride said. Teacher Bear saw the hurt look on Janet's face and realized that the girl hadn't meant to hurt her feelings. "I'm sorry," she said, "I've really been through a lot in the past through days and I'm a little testy. Could we chat later?" Janet nodded and picked up her tray. "Sure, honey, I'll see you later." With that, it was Teacher Bear, Mrs. McBride, and the cubs occupying the table.

Just as Janet was leaving, Butler had brought by a rolling cart full of bottles and two trays of a semi-appetizing meatloaf and mashed potatoes. "What happened here?" he asked. "Janet got a bit too personal with Teacher Bear, that's all," Mrs. McBride said, interrupting Teacher Bear. Butler looked at the bear, who weakly smiled and nodded.

After Butler had left for the kitchen, Teacher Bear and Mrs. McBride began giving the cubs their formula. Despite the bear's lingering feelings about the shelter keeper, she was glad to have the extra hands when it came to feeding time.

After the cubs had each had their bottles and had been burped, Teacher Bear sat down to her plate of Butler's mystery meatloaf. Though it did not look overly appetizing, she was hungry enough to eat a horse. As soon as she got a forkful, Mrs. McBride began talking. "While you and I have the chance to sit down," Mrs. McBride began, "I wanted to talk to you about making funeral arrangements for the deceased."

Teacher Bear dropped her fork just as she was about to put the food in her mouth. "Boy, you sure pick odd times to mention things, Mrs. McBride," she said in a melancholy tone as she stared down at her plate. The shelter keeper apologized quickly, but Teacher Bear was just not in the mood for her sweetness. "I'll call the oldest child now. He'll know everything about what to do," she said quickly over Mrs. McBride's apology. "Does he have all the legal paper work?" Mrs. McBride asked. "No, but he's seen plenty of death with his service in the Korean War," the bear responded. "He'll know what to do." With that, she slid down from her chair and began trying to handle the stubborn baby carriage.

The shelter keeper got up from her chair to help the bear with the carriage. Teacher Bear had had enough. "This may come as a surprise to you, but I've got it! I really do!" she exclaimed. "The only thing I need right now is the telephone! Now where do you keep your telephone around here?!" Mrs. McBride was taken aback by the bear's sudden temperamental outburst, but she knew that she was going through a rough time, so she let it slide. "Follow me dear. It's in my office," she replied sheepishly.

*****

"General Pershing Veteran Hospital! How may I direct your call?" came the voice of the receptionist at the hospital, Soon Le Klinger. "I need to speak with Francis Mulcahey, please," Teacher Bear said to the receptionist. "One moment," chimed the voice at the other end of the receiver as she put the bear on hold. As soon as she was put on hold, "Rhapsody in Blue" played in the background as the receptionist proceeded to place the call.

Meanwhile, Father Mulcahey was administering last rights to one of the patients whom had passed away in his sleep and was away from the phone in the hospital's church. Just as he had said "Amen" he heard the receptionist page him. "Father Mulcahey, call on line 3! Mulcahey, line 3!"

Father Mulcahey was surprised by the page at first since very few people called him. He then remembered that he had tried to call his mother and bear friend several times the previous day after he had heard about the patch of bad weather and had no success contacting them. "I hope that's either mom or Bluebelle," he said hopefully as he made his way to the nearest phone.

"Hello, Father Mulcahey here," he said into the receiver. Shortly after his introduction, his face lit up with relief. "Bluebelle! Oh, it's so good to hear your voice! I've been trying to reach you and mom since yesterday! I heard you had a batch of rough weather come through and I wanted to see if you two were alright, but every time I called I was kept getting disconnected. Is everything alright?"

What the bear on the other end of the telephone line had to say changed Father Mulcahey's normally cheery _expression into one of grief. "You mean… mom's dead?" He asked, beginning to tear up. As soon as his fears had been realized, he pulled a handkerchief out of his pocket and began mopping a steady stream of tears from his cheeks.

Trying to control his emotions and help the bear with hers, he asked "Are you alright, Bluebelle?" The navy blue bear began her long explanation of how she had survived the tornado and how she had found the seven cubs. "Seven?!? My goodness Bluebelle! Five boys and two girls, and one has an amputated arm? And you said they all changed colors and everything overnight to become like you? How peculiar."

As the bear concluded the events of the previous day, Father Mulcahey listened whole heartedly. "I'll tell you what Bluebelle," he said, "I'll catch the next flight out there and we can work out the funeral arrangements from there. Where are you staying right now?" She gave him the name of the shelter as well as the address and the phone number. "Okay dear, I'll be there as soon as I possibly can. And don't worry about contacting everyone else about the catastrophe. I've got all the info with me in the drawer of my side table and I'd be happy to take that burden off you shoulders. In the mean time, take good care of yourself! You sound like you've been through an awful lot in the last couple of days!" His old friend thanked him with all her heart as they said their goodbyes.

After Father Mulcahey hung up the phone, he leaned against the wall and broke into tears. His sadness was heard by Max Klinger, one of the x-ray technicians at the hospital and one of Father Mulcahey's war buddies from the M*A*S*H unit he was stationed with during the Korean War.

"Hey Father! Are you okay? What's going on?" he asked as he approached the sobbing priest. Father Mulcahey quickly dried his eyes with his handkerchief as soon as he realized he had been acknowledged. "Oh, hello Klinger. I'm sorry you had to see me like this, but I just received some terrible news," he said as he continued to wipe his face with his handkerchief. "Bad news from home?" Klinger said, hoping to get more information from the priest.

Father Mulcahey nodded sadly as he told his old friend just how bad things had gone with his family back in Philadelphia. "Do you remember me telling you about the bad weather yesterday in my hometown?" he asked his friend. "Yeah," said Klinger. "You kept getting disconnected. So what happened?"

Father Mulcahey took a deep breath. "My mother died in the storm," he explained. "Bluebelle told me that a tornado hit the house and that's how my mother died." "Bluebelle…Bluebelle…" Klinger said as he tried to remember who she was. "That's the blue little bear in my family," Father Mulcahey responded to Klinger's perplexed reaction. "And to top it off," he added, "she's adopted seven children in the situation!"

Klinger was quite taken aback by this news. "Seven! Now if I remember correctly, there's no Mr. Bear there for her either." Father Mulcahey shook his head sadly. "I'm afraid not, Klinger, but then again there's never been anyone else like her, until now. But in the mean time, I've got to get down there to help her out with the funeral arrangements. I'll see you later Klinger, and thank you for the chat."

Father Mulcahey was about to dash off to his office to plan for his trip when Klinger put his hand on the old priest's shoulder. "Wait a minute Father," he said as he and his old friend met eyes again, "Why don't me and Soon Lee come with you." "Are you sure about this?" Father Mulcahey asked, his eyes beginning to tear up again. Klinger nodded, giving the priest a big grin. "You sound like you need some traveling companions. But first things first," he added. "We gotta make a Wal-Mart run! From what you told me, it sounds like Bluebelle and the kids could use some stuff. Besides, what's a visit without presents?" Father Mulcahey smiled humbly. "Bless you Klinger," he said as he and the x-ray technician walked down the hall together.

Chapter 4: Coming Together and Falling Apart

"Let's see now, insert peg CC into slot AB and tighten," a sleep deprived Tender Heart Bear thought aloud as he sat on the living room floor assembling the most complicated baby swing that he could buy. Although it would have been easier (and cheaper) to assemble the baby swing with a Care Bear Stare, he wanted to prove to himself that he could still be a good father after the blow to his pride during the diaper changing fiasco.

As he continued to work, the baby swing was starting to take shape. Just as Tender Heart had begun screwing in one of the screws at the base, he heard a loud knock at the door that startled him. In his shock, he knocked into the baby swing, causing his project to fall over sideways. He let out a long sigh of defeat as he called out to his visitor, "Door's open! Come in!"

Grumpy Bear opened the door to Tender Heart's house. "Hiya Tender Heart," he said, "It's after midnight and I saw your living room light on, so I thought I'd stop by to see how everything's going with the new baby."

The new father didn't look up from his project as he answered sarcastically, "Wonderful! I'm sure I'm the best parent in Care-A-Lot!" Grumpy was surprised to hear this tone coming from his friend, especially since he was known for sounding that way himself. He could tell that the brown bear was having trouble adjusting to parenting not only by the sour tone, but by the flustered way he work on the baby swing. Taking a deep breath, Grumpy sat next to Tender Heart and asked him, "It sounds to me like your having trouble."

Knowing he couldn't get anything past Grumpy, Tender Heart regaled his tale of failure. "Big Heart almost got hurt last night," he began. "He almost fell off the bassinette while I was changing his diaper. Love-A-Lot was so mad. I mean, I didn't mean to let him fall. I only left the room for a minute!" His tired eyes began to moisten up as he blinked back tears of frustration. "Now I can't sleep, so I thought I'd do something constructive with my time," he finished, motioning to the baby swing in construction. "Boy, that sure is a piece of work Tender Heart," Grumpy said, eyeing his friends project. "Wouldn't it be easier to just use a Care Bear Stare on it to put it together?"

Tender Heart knew his friend was right. "It would," he said, "but I just feel like I need to put it together myself. This evening was a blow to my pride and I need to show that I really can be a good dad, you know?" Grumpy Bear smiled and nodded, for he completely understood how Tender Heart felt. He too had had some adjusting to do with his three week old daughter, Strategy Bear. "I'll tell you what," Grumpy said, "I'll come back here tomorrow morning to see how your doing. I'll even bring my daughter along to help you test out the new baby swing." Tender Heart smiled. "Thanks Grumpy, but I want Big Heart to have the first swing."

*****

It was just after midnight when the cab driver stopped in front of the homeless shelter. "Okay old timers, we're here. Time to wake up!" said the cab driver. Neither of the old men reacted to the sound of his voice, so he decided to give the one closest to him, a priest, a nudge to get his attention. Once nudged, Father Mulcahey awoke startled. "You alright, Father?" the cabby asked. "Oh…yes." he said, adjusting his hearing aid and glasses. "I'm sorry, but I must have dosed off somewhere between here and the airport." "What about him?" he motioned to the snoozing Max Klinger. Father Mulcahey smiled. "I'll wake him. I'm afraid he's a much heavier sleeper than I." The cabby nodded and got out of his cab to retrieve the some of the luggage from the trunk.

Father Mulcahey nudged his old friend. "Klinger, we're here," he said. Klinger winced up as he spoke in his sleep, having a flashback dream about the Korean War. "Come on Colonel Potter, I don't wanna go back on KP. The food is gonna ruin my best blouse and the cockroaches keep crawling up my bloomers," Klinger stirred a bit as he talked in his sleep. "Klinger," replied the priest, "We're not in South Korea. We're in southern Pennsylvania." It took Klinger a few seconds to realize that he had indeed reached his final destination. "Father, I had the craziest dream," began the sleepy man's tale. "I was back in the war! And to make things worse, Colonel Potter wanted me to pull double duty on KP! And to top it all off, he wouldn't even let me go change! I was gonna put on my military junk with my pearls and green pumps."

As Klinger began regaling Father Mulcahey about his absurd dreams, the cab driver overheard the whole story. "What the heck is he talking about, Father?" he asked the priest as he looked oddly at Klinger. Father Mulcahey blushed as he explained how in the Korean War, Klinger used to dress in woman's clothing in an attempt to get a dishonorable discharge. The cabby simply shook his head in disbelief and gave his passengers their cab fee.

As soon as the cab drove away, the plump shelter keeper came dashing out the door of Saint Anne's Homeless Shelter. "Gentlemen," she said as she began shaking their hands, "I'm so glad you're here! I'm Mrs. McBride and I'm in charge here at Saint Anne's." Father Mulcahey smiled cordially. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Mrs. McBride. I'm Father Mulcahey and this is Max Klinger. I assume by the greeting that you know why we're here." Mrs. McBride nodded. "Yes, yes. Teacher Bear told me all about you! Here, let me help you with your bags."

Both men were taken aback by the name "Teacher Bear." "Excuse me, Mrs. McBride," Father Mulcahey asked, "but I don't know anyone by the name of…Teacher Bear. I'm actually here for a Bluebelle Mulcahey." Mrs. McBride stopped picking up luggage for a few seconds as she looked at the priest. "That's who I've been talking about. Oh, and by the way, you all have a lot of stuff! Were you planning on staying for a while?" Klinger shook his head. "Most of it's gifts for the bear and her kids," he said as he began helping with the bags.

Inside, Teacher Bear was changing yet again another diaper. "Well, I'm glad you don't like to sit around in your dirty diaper like your brother, Charity Heart," she said to the baby fox as she finished fastening to diaper. "Tete Ba!" Charity Heart giggled and gurgled as her guardian picked her up.

"Ah, Teacher Bear! Just the lady I wanted to see," said the bag loaded Mrs. McBride as soon as she saw the little blue bear. "Oh, hello Mrs. McBride," said Teacher Bear, a bit nonchalantly. "I got on the diaper alright if that's what you're wondering." Mrs. McBride smiled. "Actually, I wanted to let you know that you have some visitors," the shelter keeper said pleasantly as her two guests entered the room with the remainder of their luggage.

The bear's eyes lit up instantly at the sight of her two old friends. "Francis! Mr. Klinger!" she squealed excitedly, flinging her free arm around both men. "Bluebelle! I've been so worried about you!" Father Mulcahey replied tearfully as he hugged her. "Fanci!" said the baby fox in Teacher Bear's arm as she held out her own arms for a hug from the priest. Teacher Bear blushed at the behavior of the fox cub. "I hope you don't mind Francis, but I think Charity Heart wants a hug too." Father Mulcahey smiled at the little fox. "I don't mind at all Bluebelle," he said as he scooped up the baby fox. "Hello little one. I'm Father Mulcahey, a priest. And I'm a very good friend of your mother," he said as he held the affectionate cub. "Fanci!" she replied, hugging the priest. Teacher Bear looked up at Father Mulcahey as she explained, "Well…I'm more of the children's guardian than their mother, sort of like how Mrs. Mulcahey was for me." "Oh…I'm terribly sorry Bluebelle," he said, "I assumed too quickly."

Teacher Bear could see that the situation was going downhill fast, so she decided to change the subject. "Well, how was your trip?" she asked, trying to keep the conversation rolling. "It was terrible!" Klinger began in his overly dramatic voice, "First off, my wife Soon Lee couldn't come because she hates flying. Sitting on a plane too long is really bad on her. Then all we got on that crummy plane was a few bags of peanuts and pretzels and a pair of cheap headphones! They didn't even show an in-flight movie! Then, we took a cab from the airport and I ended up falling asleep on the way over, having another one of my war dreams were I'm wearing one of my dresses. I told Father Mulcahey about it and the cabbie looked at me like I was nuts!" Teacher Bear began to giggle. "Klinger, the flight was only a few hours. They don't show movies for short flights," Father Mulcahey said. Teacher Bear continued to giggle as Charity Heart began playing with Father Mulcahey's crucifix necklace.

Meanwhile, the rest of the cubs in the crib were beginning to get fussy from lack of attention and began crying. "Oh dear," Teacher Bear sighed, "Gentlemen, let me introduce you to the rest of the bunch." She introduced them all as they plucked them out of the crib. Klinger picked up Curious Heart and Grateful Heart, and Father Mulcahey picked up Pretty Heart. Mrs. McBride helped out by picking up Thorough Heart and Passive Heart and Teacher Bear picked up Hungry Heart.

"Hey, um, Teacher Bluebelle, we brought some stuff for you and the kids," Klinger said as he handled the two baby boys. "Oh Mr. Klinger, you shouldn't have!" she smiled gleefully. "Hey, no problem," he said with a big grin, "I've got a few kids of my own. Their all grown up now and moved out, but I have a feeling you might need a few odds and ends to get you through. Go ahead, dig around in the bags and see what we brought you!" Teacher Bear hugged Klinger again with her free arm and then unzipped the nearest luggage bag.

Everyone put the children down near the bags began unzipping and pulling out the gifts. Teacher Bear's eyes brightened with every zipper. "This is just like Christmas!" she said as she pulled out a package of disposable diapers, "Thank you so much! Hungry Heart will definitely need these. Out of all the children, I've changed him the most!" Klinger smiled as he pulled stuffed toys out of his bag for the children. "Hey kiddos, I've got a teddy bear for each of you!" Curious Heart, Pretty Heart and Grateful Heart smiled at Klinger as he handed them their new teddy bears.

"Fanci! Fanci!" Charity Heart said as Father Mulcahey handed her a stuffed cow. "You're quite welcome Charity Heart. Do you know what sound a cow makes?" he asked playfully. "Fanci!" she replied, hugging the cow. The priest giggled, "Cows go moo. Can you say moo? Try it, moo, moo." Charity Heart giggled at the priest's silly sound. "Fanci maw maw!" she gurgled as she continued playing with the cow. Father Mulcahey smiled. "Don't worry dear, I'll teach you how the cow talks."

"Here's something fun!" Klinger said, pulling out a plastic xylophone. The colors and sound of the xylophone attracted the attention of Thorough Heart and Passive Heart. "You boys like music?" he asked playfully, plunking at the toys keys. Both the boys smiled and began trying to plunk the keys with their paws.

Hungry Heart found a bundle of bottles in the midst of the commotion. "Ba ba!" he said, crawling towards them. He picked the bundle up and began chewing on them. "No, no Hungry Heart!" Teacher Bear said to the hungry billygoat. He smiled at her and gurgled, "Ba ba Teka Bat!" She picked him up and gave him a hug. "You're right. I think we need to eat some dinner. Francis, Mr. Klinger, have you had anything to eat?" The men shook their heads and smiled. "I'll get Butler to fix you gentlemen up something," said Mrs. McBride, "Actually, that would be the ideal time for you all to begin discussing funeral arrangements." The shelter keeper then left the room to inform her husband of the new visitors.

Teacher Bear's smile disappeared at the thought of having to make the funeral arrangements. Father Mulcahey noticed her change of _expression. "I'm sorry we had to ruin the party Bluebelle, but we really do need to get this going." Teacher Bear gave him a small smile. "That's okay. It was nice to forget my troubles for a short while."

*****

"Good morning Strategy," Grumpy Bear said tenderly to his awakening daughter. "Urg, papa…" the periwinkle cub gurgled as her father picked her up. Grumpy Bear couldn't help smiling at his drowsy daughter. "Come on sweetheart," he cooed. "Time to go visit your new friend Big Heart and his mom and dad."

The two bears walked outside into the beautiful early morning. The sun was creeping over the clouds, bathing Care-A-Lot in warm colors. Grumpy Bear took a deep breath of fresh morning air as Strategy Bear lifted her head off his shoulder to look around. Not normally an early riser, Grumpy was surprised at how beautiful early morning was in Care-A-Lot. "We'll have to take more early morning walks, Strategy," he said to his daughter. "Papa pitty!" Strategy Bear smiled back at her father, clearly enjoying the morning walk with her dad. Seeing how his baby girl was enjoying herself, Grumpy decided to play her favorite game, the helicopter game. "Uh-oh, here comes the helicopter!" he said playfully as he began spinning around in circles to his daughter's delight. Both bears began giggling as they spun in circles.

As the father and daughter played their little game, Bedtime Bear, who was nearly finished with his nightly duties, heard their giggling. He peeked over a cloud to see Grumpy Bear and Strategy Bear playing and smiling, and couldn't help smiling himself.

"Good morning you two!" Bedtime called out from behind the cloud. Grumpy and Strategy stopped spinning and looked in Bedtime Bear's direction. Bedtime smiled and waved from behind the cloud. "I never took you to be morning person Grumpy Bear!" Grumpy blushed as Strategy continued to giggle. "Good morning Bedtime. Strategy and I were just going to visit Tender Heart," he responded.

Bedtime Bear's pleasant smile quickly disappeared when he heard where Grumpy Bear was headed. "Um…Grumpy, are you quite sure about that?" Grumpy shot Bedtime a confused look. "Yes," he replied in a grouchy tone, "why do you ask?" Bedtime bit his bottom lip nervously. "Well," he began, "I stopped by his place last night because I saw the living room light on. I asked him how he was doing and he snapped at me! He was grumpier than you normally are!"

Grumpy smirked at his friends last comment. "He's just having trouble with his new baby," he said in an even grouchier tone. "He'll get over it. I did and now me and my daughter are doing just fine!" Bedtime couldn't keep from smiling. He remembered when Strategy Bear was born and how much of a wreck Grumpy Bear was. To look at him and his daughter now, it almost seemed unbelievable that there was a turbulent start in their father-daughter relationship. "You'd know better than I would Grumpy," he said, "but heed my warning. He's a mess!"

Grumpy thanked his friend and continued his walk down the rainbow road, his daughter happily in his arms. He looked down at his smiling baby girl as she grabbed onto her feet playfully. "Come on sweetie," he said with a smile, "let's go see Big Heart and his dad!"

*****

The sun's rays peeked over the dormitory window sill of Saint Anne's Homeless Shelter and into the sleep deprived eyes of Teacher Bear. It had been hard for the navy blue bear to sleep after having to discuss funeral arrangements the previous night over leftover tuna casserole. That morning, she and her friends and family would have to sift through the remains of the house to salvage any valuables for the will. From there, they would have go to the morgue to identify Mrs. Mulcahey's dead body. After that, they would have to call the lawyer to make funeral arrangements. The thought of the gruesome day that lay ahead of her and the thought of having to take care of the children in the process seemed nearly impossible. To make matters worse, these thoughts scared her.

Teacher Bear turned on her side and looked at the crib full of sleeping babies. She couldn't help smiling at their innocence. Deep down, she both envied them for their serenity and pitied them for being in the situation that they were in. Slowly, she got out of her dormitory bed and walked softly toward the crib. She looked down at each and every one of their little sleeping faces and began to tear up. "Why?" she tearfully whispered to herself as she looked down at the children. "I don't understand. Am I really supposed to be your Teacher Bear or is this just a big mistake?"

Klinger, who was having some trouble adjusting to the dormitory beds himself, heard the bear's whispers. "Hey, are you alright?" he asked. Teacher Bear quickly looked up at the old man and forced a smile onto her tired face. "I'm okay. Just checking on the children," she replied as cheerfully as she could muster.

Her act did not fool Klinger. "It sounds to me like you're not okay," he said. "Come on, what's bothering you?" The bear let out a long sigh, which was starting to become more and more routine for her. "I'm worried about tomorrow's agenda," she said, hanging her head with the weight of the worries. "It's going to be somber to start out with, but I'm more concerned about the children. A morgue is no place for a baby, let alone seven. And then there's the remains of the house. I don't know how I'm ever going to be able to get all this done." The tears she tried to suppress began to flow gently down her cheeks as she finished. Klinger picked her up and held her as she began crying.

"Don't worry honey," he said as he held the anxiety stricken bear. "Why don't you and Father Mulcahey go do all that tomorrow and I'll look after the kids." Looking up from her paws, she smiled numbly. "Are you serious Klinger? They're a lot of work!" she said weakly. "Don't worry about work Teacher Bear," he said with a big grin. "I've already gone through the training with my two kids. Before you know it, you'll catch on too." Her numb smile began to weaken even more. "Maybe you should just call me Bluebelle," she said sadly. "I don't know if Teacher Bear is a very appropriate name right now."

Klinger continued to smile tenderly at the bear, even though he could tell that something else was bothering her. "Well listen," he said, "if you ever need to tell me anything that's bugging you, I've got an ear open. In the mean time, get some rest. Maybe in the morning, you can decide what your name is." An impromptu smile came across the worried bear's face. "You think I'm kidding about the name?" Klinger said, deciding to take this opportunity to make a joke. "I haven't known what to call you since I got here!"

Teacher Bear continued to smile a bit. "Goodnight Klinger, and thank you," she said as she lay back down on her bed. "Sweet dreams," Klinger said as he lay down, trying to get comfortable.

With a more relieved sigh, the tired teacher's bear closed her eyes and made another attempt at falling asleep.

*****

"Okay Strategy Bear, ring the doorbell," coaxed Grumpy Bear to his delighted daughter. The periwinkle baby bear pressed the heart shaped button on Tender Heart Bear's household. The sound of the bell and the feeling she got from pushing the button thrilled the child, causing her to press the doorbell again and again. "Whoa there," said Grumpy, holding the excited cubs paw. "Once is plenty, Strategy."

The two bears stood outside the cloud-built house for a few minutes before Grumpy Bear began to get slightly impatient. He rang the door bell and called out, "Tender Heart! Are you in there?" In his haste, he began to ring the door bell multiple times. Strategy Bear grabbed his hand. "No, no Papa!" she said, holding grapping hold of her father's paw. Grumpy smiled at his daughter, glad to see that she had paid attention to him.

After standing outside the door for five more minutes, Grumpy was starting to get worried. "Hmm…" he said softly to himself. "I hope everything's alright in there." Gingerly testing the doorknob, he found that it was still unlocked from the night before. "Now Strategy Bear," he began as he walked inside, "normally, you shouldn't do this. It's called trespassing, but we need to check on our friend Tender Heart."

Only taking a few steps inside, Grumpy Bear plainly saw his friend curled up on the living room rug, cuddling with a wrench. A few star buddies were resting on some of the furniture. Judging from the presence of the star buddies, Tender Heart was in need of some help. Putting his cub down, Grumpy slowly took the wrench out of the sleeping bears arms. He was afraid that if Tender Heart awoke suddenly, he would hurt himself with the tool.

Once the wrench was away from Tender Heart, Grumpy began to gently shake him in order to wake him. "Tender Heart! Tender Heart! Wake up!" he said as he shook him. As expected, Tender Heart awoke suddenly, turning quickly to meet nose to nose with Grumpy. "What are you doing here!" exclaimed the startled bear. Upon Tender Heart's awakening, the star buddies began to stir. "I came to check on you!" replied Grumpy in a sour tone. "You're usually up by now!"

Tender Heart was ashamed of his tone and apologized. His friend quickly forgave him and moved onto the subject of the baby swing. "Were you up all night working on it?" he asked. "Yes," Tender Heart blushed as he replied, ignoring the star buddies hovering near the swing, "but look! I'm done with it! Isn't it great!" "Oh, wow. It's terrific Tender Heart," Grumpy replied, trying hard not to look at the nervous looks on the star buddies faces. Tender Heart continued to carry on about his contraption. "I can't wait to let Big Heart try it!"

As if on cue, Love-A-Lot Bear came into the living room holding her son. He had just woke up and had breakfast. "Good morning," Grumpy said as he picked up his daughter. "Good morning boys," she replied upon seeing her guest and her husband. "I was wondering where you were last night Tender Heart Bear." "Good morning Love-A-Lot," said Tender Heart, giving his wife a kiss and picking up the baby. "Hey there little guy! I got something for ya! I made you a swing!"

Love-A-Lot looked over at the contraption that her husband had put together. "Did you work on this last night?" Tender Heart smiled with pride. "I sure did!" he said, "Big Heart's gonna love it, aren't ya little guy?" Big Heart cooed softly as he looked up at his father. The star buddies began to squeak nervously as Tender Heart inched closer to the swing with his son. Grumpy was tempted to say something to Tender Heart about the star buddies' foreboding, but he was afraid to contradict the fragile bear. Instead, he crossed his fingers, hoping that nothing bad would happen.

Continuing to ignore the squawking star buddies, Tender Heart placed his son in the swing. Everyone in the room, accept for Tender Heart and Big Heart, held their breath as the brown bear cranked the mechanism to make the contraption swing. Things seemed to be going his way as the swing moved back and forth gently, sweetly playing "Would You Like to Swing on a Star." The spectators all let out a sigh of relief as the swing continued to work.

Just as Big Heart had begun to get comfortable, the baby swing's song began to steadily go more and more off key. The star buddies began scrambling around as the swing began to shake. Big Heart screamed in panic as the swing jerked him about. A few springs popped out of the cranking mechanism. "My baby!" squealed Love-A-Lot as the swing began to collapse. The star buddies quickly grabbed onto the swing before it came tumbling to the ground and began squawking at the bears to get Big Heart out of the swing. Tender Heart made for the baby, but Love-A-Lot grabbed him before her husband could. Once Big Heart was safely out of the swing, they let go of it, allowing it crumble to the ground.

"What were you thinking!" Love-A-Lot Bear shouted. "He could have gotten really hurt!" Tender Heart looked sickly at his ruined project. "I'm sorry," he apologized softly. "I was trying to…" he began before his wife cut him off. "You should be sorry! This is the second time you almost hurt your son! Thank goodness those star buddies were here or heaven only knows what could have happened!"

Tender Heart hung his head, his eyes filling with tears. "I'm going for a walk," he said weakly, going toward the door. "Hey…Tender Heart," Grumpy apprehensively said, putting his hand on his friend's shoulder. Tender Heart Bear shoved his friend's hand off his shoulder and stormed out of his house.

Love-A-Lot Bear was silent. "Grumpy, what's going on with Tender Heart? He's been acting strangely." Grumpy sighed. "He's having problems with being a new dad, a lot like I did at first," he said. "Hey, would you please look after Strategy Bear for me? I'm gonna go after Tender Heart." Love-A-Lot agreed and took the periwinkle cub from Grumpy Bear.

After saying his goodbyes, Grumpy dashed out the door. "Be sure to call Share Bear and let her know what's going on, okay?" he shouted back to Love-A-Lot as he took off to look for the distraught Tender Heart Bear.

*****

"Tatab!" Curious Heart moaned as his guardian picked him up out of his crib to change his diaper. Bags hung under the exhausted Teacher Bear's eyes as she brought the wolf cub over to the bassinette to be changed.

"Well, good morning Bluebelle," Father Mulcahey chimed out cheerfully as he picked up the eager Charity Heart. With a yawn, she greeted the old priest. Unlike him, she was not much of a morning person. "You know," he said with a smile as the fox cub gleefully hugged him, "I think little Charity Heart likes me." Teacher Bear did not respond as she peeled back Curious Heart's poopy diaper.

"Breakfast is on for whoever wants it! Oatmeal and scrambled eggs!" Butler shouted out through the doors of the dormitory. "Mmmmmm…" the tired bear said softly to herself, thinking of the warm oatmeal and fluffy scrambled eggs awaiting her. "Yes, it does sound lovely," Father Mulcahey said in response to his old friend's hungry sound. "We'd better wake Klinger, Charity Heart," he added, "He has a tendency to sleep through anything." Charity Heart giggled as she and Father Mulcahey went over to Klinger's cot.

Having completed Curious Heart's diaper change, Teacher Bear placed him in the carriage and began gathering the rest of the cubs from the crib. As she did this, Father Mulcahey and Charity Heart began to nudge Klinger in an attempt to wake him. "Klinger," Father Mulcahey said tenderly, "wake up!" "Wa up!" Charity Heart imitated, having fun nudging Klinger. "Oh Colonel," Klinger said in his sleep, clearly having another one of his war dreams. "Don't make me dig latrine's in the blue chiffon. That's one of my best dresses."

Upon hearing the old man say the word "dresses," the inmates waking up for breakfast gave weird looks at the two old men. "Klinger," Father Mulcahey said, slightly embarrassed, "this isn't the army! It's time for breakfast!"

Klinger rolled over in his cot and slowly opened his eyes. With a loud yawn, he said, "Good morning you two." Charity Heart giggled at Klinger's loud yawn. "Wa up!" she said enthusiastically, continuing to nudge him.

Meanwhile, Teacher Bear had the rest of the children ready for breakfast. "Are you two coming, or are we going to have to start without you?" she said in an irritated tone. "I'm coming," Klinger said, still yawning. "Wa up!" Charity Heart said again, giggling. Father Mulcahey handed Charity Heart to Klinger. "I'll join you in a minute," he said, "but first I want to call mom's lawyer. Hopefully I can hammer out some of the details before we take off for today's errands."

Teacher Bear began pushing the carriage full of children to the cafeteria. Klinger, still holding Charity Heart, once again let out a loud yawn. "Wa up!" Charity Heart said again, giggling. "Wa up!" some of the others in the carriage chimed in. Klinger began to laugh at the children. "Not before I have a cup of coffee," he told them.

Chapter 5: Complicated Events

"Gooooood morning Seattle! It's 6:30 a.m. in the ol' Pacific Time zone, which means it's time to rise and shine with the Mueller Morning Show! I'm your DJ, Greg Mueller, here to tell you that today is going to be a beau…"

Share Bear hit the snooze button on her alarm clock. Yawning heavily, she sat up in bed and rubbed her eyes. "Come on Grumpy," she said, expecting her husband to still be trying to squeeze a few extra minutes of sleep out of the morning. "It's time to get up before I put the obnoxious Mueller Morning Show back on to wake you up." Although she was a people loving bear who rarely spoke ill of anyone, Share knew that DJ Greg Mueller's voice could wear the patience off the saints of peace, which she figured is why the radio station put him on in the morning to wake everyone up.

Surprised not to hear Grumpy Bear's normal "another five minutes" complaint, Share Bear turned around to discover that her husband was not in bed. "I wonder if he's gone to check on Strategy," she said to herself, getting out of bed.

Walking down the hall to her daughter's room, she was surprised by how quiet it was in the house, which made her feel a bit uneasy. Normally, there was at least some kind of noise to be made.

Gently, she opened the door to her daughter's room. "Good morning," she said softly as she opened the door. She was expecting to see her daughter slumbering in her crib and her husband tending to her needs, but instead she saw that the room was empty. Nervously, she whispered into the room. "Hello," she said, her voice wavering. "Are you hiding?"

Just as her suspicions were beginning to heighten, she heard the telephone ring. "Oh, I hope that's them!" she exclaimed as she dashed off to the phone in the kitchen.  
Fumbling with the phone as she picked it up, she shouted "Hello! Grumpy!" into the receiver.

At the other end of the phone line, Love-A-Lot Bear winced at the loud shout. "No, it's Love-A-Lot," she responded. "Oh, I'm sorry Love-A-Lot," Share Bear apologized. "I'm afraid I've got a problem this morning. I can't find Grumpy or Strategy anywhere and I'm getting really worried!" "It's okay Share," Love-A-Lot reassured her friend. "Strategy is here with Big Heart and me, and Grumpy went off after Tender Heart this morning."

"Really," replied Share with a sigh of relief. "What are the men up to?" Love-A-Lot now sounded worried. "I'm not sure. Tender Heart's been acting peculiar lately. Last night he stayed up building a baby swing that ended up crashing to the ground this morning." Love-A-Lot began breathing faster as she spoke. "And it almost hurt Big Heart! After that, he just ran out the door. Grumpy went after him, but I don't know where they are now." Share could hear Love-A-Lot begin to cry softly. "Hey Love-A-Lot," she said softly, "have you had breakfast yet?" "No," she responded a bit surprised. "Well, why don't I bring you a little something to eat and we can talk a little bit," Share suggested. Love-A-Lot thanked her friend for her generosity. "No problem," Share said. "That's why they call me Share Bear! I'll be over in about fifteen minutes or so."

Hanging up the phone, Share Bear began thinking about what could have happened to Tender Heart Bear. "Well," she thought to herself, "I'll find out shortly. In the mean time, I think there's some left over doughnuts in the cabinet."

*****

"Now you're absolutely sure you can handle the children Klinger," Teacher Bear said for the hundredth time as she and Father Mulcahey prepared themselves for a very long day of plans for Mrs. Mulcahey's funeral. "Don't worry Teach," he said in a very relaxed tone, "I've got plenty of experience. I got two of my own grown up now, remember?" The old Lebanese man smiled a warm smile to the worried bear and the old priest. Teacher Bear let out a smile as she finally gave Klinger her blessing to look after the children.

After giving her blessing, she grabbed a nearby pad of paper and a pencil to make notes for her babysitter. "Before we leave, Klinger, there's a few things you'll need to know so that you won't be confused," she said as she began her rant, "Give Grateful Heart his medicine whenever he needs it and ONLY when he needs it. He'll start crying and holding his arm when he needs it so that's when you'll know. And Hungry Heart has a tendency to sit around in his diaper for a while rather than crying for a change, so keep an eye and a keen nose on him. And Curious Heart has a tendency to get into everything, so watch him like a hawk! He's been acting up with Charity Heart stealing her cow that Francis gave her and she goes crazy so make sure…" "Whoa there Teach," Klinger said, holding his hands out to stifle the bear. "I think I can handle it!" Teacher Bear was taken aback. "Okay, Klinger," she said a bit apprehensively, "But if you need anything, let Mrs. McBride know. She's a bit of a busy-body, but she seems to know her stuff." She could not help smiling at the thought of Mrs. McBride doing her know-it-all routine on someone else.

Father Mulcahey put his hand on Teacher Bear's shoulder. "Are you ready to go, Bluebelle?" he asked. The old bear smiled with a small bit. "Yes, I think I am," she responded unsurely.

Before leaving, she leaned over the crib and kissed each of the children on the forehead. Upon being kissed, Passive Heart began to awake. He began to squirm a bit and open his eyes. "Don't worry Passive Heart," his guardian said, gently stroking his head, "Mr. Klinger is going to keep an eye on you."

Once the goodbyes had been said, Teacher Bear and Father Mulcahey left to run their funeral errands. Klinger let out a light hearted sigh of relief. No sooner had he sat down, Passive Heart began to whimper. "Tiabie…" he moaned as tears began to run down his cheeks. "Oh hey little guy," Klinger said softly as he picked Passive Heart up from the crib. At this point, Passive Heart was full out bawling. "Tiabie!!!!" he squealed, disturbing the other residents.

"Hey old guy!" one of the residents yelled, "Some of us are trying to get some sleep!" Klinger apologized as the cub continued to scream out of control. "Tiabie!! WAAA!"

As if one crying cub was bad enough, the others began to awake and cry from Passive Heart's loud commotion. "Shhhhhhh!" Klinger begged the children, "Quite down! Your gonna wake up the whole town!"

Meanwhile, the residents were growing more and more unsettled. "I can't take it!" the same resident yelled out in fury, "I have to be at work in a few hours and I'd like to get some more sleep!" "Lay off would ya!" Klinger yelled back, beginning to loose his temper with this man, "It's not my fault! Babies cry ya know!" Caring only for his own welfare, the angry resident screamed back, "I'll lay off your nose ya jerk!"

Completely loosing his temper, the angry resident lunged toward Klinger and the crying cub. "Bill!" another one of the residents screeched in horror as she attempted to stop him, "How dare you try to hurt those sweet little babies!" "Don't mess with me Janet!" he yelled, slapping her across the face. The hit caused Janet to land hard on the floor, twisting her ankle in the process. "Bill, I've got to go into work in a few hours too!" she shrieked defensively, gingerly holding her ankle as the children continued to cry.

As Bill took another swing at Janet, Mrs. McBride came into the room to see what all the commotion was about. "Bill! What in the name of God are you doing!" she screamed as he kicked Janet in the back. "I'm tryin' to sleep!" he screamed at the shelter keeper. "Is that any excuse to abuse your fellow residents?" Mrs. McBride questioned. "Well…" Bill began, locking eyes with Mrs. McBride, "I was gonna get that old guy over there with and his screaming brats, but this stupid woman tried to stop me!"

Mrs. McBride's eyes widened with anger and disgust. "Your lack of sleep is no excuse for abuse, Bill!" she said raising her voice. "One more attempt to hurt anyone else here and I'm throwing you out, for good this time!"

Speechless, Bill threw his arms up in the air. "Fine!" he screamed, "I can't sleep here anyway!" Mrs. McBride watched as he gathered up his blanket and pillow. "I'm gonna go sleep in the bathroom!" he continued to rant, "At least it's quite in there!" With that, he slammed the door to the dormitory, leaving the children to continue their crying.

As soon as Bill left the room, all of the cubs except for Passive Heart began to calm down. Passive Heart was still very upset about his guardian leaving, but he was slowly beginning to find comfort in the old man's arms.

"I'm terribly sorry, Mr. Klinger," Mrs. McBride said as she helped Janet to her feet, "Bill has a violent streak due to his alcohol withdrawals." Klinger raised his eyebrow. "Alcohol withdrawals, eh?" he said, remembering coming home from the war and dealing with some of that himself. "Hey, are you gonna be okay?" he asked Janet as she sat on the edge of an empty cot. "Oh, I'm fine," she said, trying to hide her pain as she wiped a bit of blood from the corner of her mouth. "Besides," she added, "I have to go to work in a couple of hours."

There was something in they young girl's tone that made Klinger feel as though she was lying. "I think maybe you should call in sick," he said as he sat down next to her, still holding Passive Heart. Janet's eyes flew wide open in fear. "Oh no! I can't do that!" she said, "I'm fine, really!" Looking her dead in the eye, Klinger decided to challenge her claim. "Alright then. If your doing as good as you say you are, I wanna see you walk."  
Trying to muster a good performance on her obviously sprained ankle, Janet got on her feet and tried to walk normally. She took a few steps and tumbled to the ground in pain. "What'd I tell ya! You need to go see a doctor," Klinger replied as he and Mrs. McBride helped her to her feet again.

Janet's eyes began to well up. "I can't," she said, fighting back tears, "I need to work full time every week or else they cut back on my insurance! My mother needs it for her treatments!" Klinger could not believe what he was hearing. "Cut back on your insurance!" he said in shock, "I've never heard of such a ridiculous thing!" "It's true," Mrs. McBride interjected, "Lot's of places do it."

Klinger sat wide eyed at the thought of the girl having to go into work with a sprained ankle and other injuries. What made him even more upset was the fact that her injuries were not her fault. "There's gotta be a way around this," he said weakly to Janet. "I wish there was," she said, "but I'm afraid that's the way the system works. I don't want to loose my waitressing job. I've already lost three waitressing jobs due to injuries outside the workplace." Trying to break the conversation, Mrs. McBride went off to get Janet an ankle brace.

Because of his crying, Passive Heart started to hiccup. Klinger patted the cub's back in an awkward silence as he thought about Janet's situation. Trying to break the silence, Janet turned to Klinger and smiled. "Um…can I hold the baby?" she asked sweetly. Klinger returned the smile. "Sure," he said kindly, handing over the hiccupping cub.

Gently, Janet began to rock the badger cub, softly humming a lullaby. Passive Heart was soon soothed of his hiccups and began to drift off to sleep in the abused woman's arms.

*****

"There you go you two," Love-A-Lot Bear said to her son and her little guest as she lay them down in the crib for a nap. "Sweet dreams," she whispered as she kissed their foreheads and cranked the cribs mobile that played "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star." After the exciting morning that both the cubs had had, they were soon fast asleep.

Once she had closed the bedroom door, Love-A-Lot let out a worried sigh. "Hmm," she thought to herself, "I wonder what's gotten into Tender Heart here of late. Ever since Big Heart's been born, he's been acting awfully strange."

Before she could dwell more on her thoughts, she heard a knock at the door. Glad to know that Share Bear was the knocker, she dashed to the door before her visitor was tempted to knock again. After all, she had two sleeping babies that she didn't want to wake.

Just as Share Bear was about to knock for a second time, Love-A-Lot opened the door. "Oh thank goodness you're here!" said Love-A-Lot as she hugged Share, nearly squishing the doughnuts that her friend had brought over for breakfast. "Glad to be of service," said Share as she brushed a few doughnut crumbs off of her chest that were left over from the embrace. "Please, come in. The children are taking a nap right now, so we'll have to be quite," Love-A-Lot said cordially. Both the bears quietly walked into the house and headed toward the kitchen, passing by the remains of the baby swing. They brewed a pot of coffee and set a modest breakfast table.

"So, Love-A-Lot, what's on your mind?" Share began the conversation, nibbling on a chocolate long john. "Well," Love-A-Lot began her tale, "I'm concerned about Tender Heart. He just hasn't been acting like himself lately." "Oh," said Share, "like how?" Love-A-Lot sat back in her chair and took a sip of her coffee. "Well, last night and this morning he almost hurt Big Heart," she said softly, saddened by the thought of having her new baby injured. "He almost hurt your son?" said Share, very surprised. "How on earth did he almost hurt him?" Love-A-Lot sighed, "I know he wasn't trying to do it on purpose, but he's just not doing things right," she began. "Like last night. Tender Heart went into Big Heart's room to change his diaper, and Big Heart fell off the bassinette and almost fell to the floor! And then this morning when he put Big Heart in that crazy contraption he spent all night working on, it almost collapsed with my baby still in it! I just don't know what's gotten into him!"

Share held her finger to her lips, indicating that Love-A-Lot needed to quiet down a notch. Love-A-Lot apologized and took a sip from her coffee cup. "You know," she said with a small smile, "I haven't had a good cup of coffee since before I was pregnant with Big Heart." Share Bear smiled. "I know what you mean," she replied. "I remember my first cup of coffee after my pregnancy with Strategy. Come to think of it, I think Grumpy drank more coffee that day than I did." Love-A-Lot giggled. "I'm serious," Share continued, "he was a mess! For about a week it seemed like no matter what he did and no matter how hard he tried, nothing seemed to go right for him. In fact, he was even grumpier than usual." "Really?" Love-A-Lot asked. "I thought he was just acting like himself." Share giggled. "No. He had troubles all his own, most of which were caused by me and my mood swings leftover from my pregnancy." "You had mood swings too?" Love-A-Lot asked. "Of course," she explained. "It's called post pardom depression. It's actually very common after a woman gets done with a pregnancy. Your hormones are all out of sync and to top it off, you have a crying baby that needs your attention 24/7. I still get the cranks every once and a while."

Love-A-Lot stared sadly into her coffee cup. "I hate to say it," she said sadly, "but that's exactly how I've been feeling." Share gave her friend a pat on the shoulder and a warm smile. "Cheer up Love-A-Lot. Once Grumpy started getting the hang of things and my mood swings started to die down, everything seemed to click between him and Strategy. Now he's happier than I've seen him in quite a while."

Love-A-Lot Bear sat quietly in her chair, sipping her coffee cup. "Share," she began, "do you think Tender Heart is doing the same thing as Grumpy did?" Share Bear smiled reassuringly. "I wouldn't be a bit surprised if he is," she said. "In some cases, it takes men a little bit to get used to doing womanly stuff, like taking care of a baby."

Thinking about the moody way she had been acting since she had come back from Take Care Bear's hospital, Love-A-Lot took a bite out of a glazed cinnamon doughnut. "Well," she said as she swallowed the bite, "as soon as Tender Heart gets home, I'm going to have to apologize for being so testy. I bet that hasn't helped him out in the least bit." Share nodded reassuringly. "You can't help it. Your maternal instincts are rearing up inside you," she said. Love-A-Lot couldn't help grinning about what Share had said about her crazy maternal instincts getting the better of her. "Don't worry," Share continued, "when Tender Heart and Grumpy get back, we can all talk about it. Sharing your feelings about the whole situation will make things better."

Love-A-Lot hugged Share, thanking her for her words of wisdom. "Speaking of the boys," Love-A-Lot said, "I wonder where they could be?"

Chapter 6: Away We Go

"Well…here we are. Home sweet home, or what's left of it…" Father Mulcahey said apprehensively as the cab came to a halt in front of the remains of what was once the Mulcahey house. Teacher Bear looked out the window upon the wreckage with sad eyes, remembering how it had been destroyed. "Well," she said, "we'd better get a move on."

Father Mulcahey paid the cabbie and asked that he return in a few hours. The cabbie agreed to return in two hours, giving them little time. "Ready to go Bluebelle?" Father Mulcahey asked, taking hold of his old friend's hand. "As ready as I'll ever be," she responded, trying to sound as positive as she could. Holding hands, the bear and the old priest walked toward the house.

Teacher Bear led Father Mulcahey to the window where she had made her exit a few nights back. "Oh, dear," Father Mulcahey said at the sight of the dead hedgehog family near the window. The old bear looked sadly at the remains of the hedgehog family. "This is where I found Grateful Heart the other night," she said softly, stifling back tears. Father Mulcahey placed his hand on her shoulder to comfort her. "Come on Bluebelle," he said sweetly, "why don't we set them aside where they can rest in peace." She nodded sadly and gingerly picked them up. She lay them next to a patch of wild daisies and said a silent prayer. "Okay," she said softly, "let's get a move on."

The two Mulcahey's helped each other climb into the broken out window. Both of their hearts sank at the sight of the houses interior, but that did not stop them from rooting around.

Once they had reached what was left of the hall closet and opened it, they were pleased to find that a few plastic Tuppermaid containers were still intact. Teacher Bear smiled in relief as she lifted the lid off of the container that said "winter clothes." "It's a bit out of season," she said as she pulled out one of Mrs. Mulcahey's winter dresses, "but it will work for the funeral." Father Mulcahey smiled. "Perhaps this blue dress," he suggested, pulling out a flowery dark blue dress. "Blue is her best color, don't you think?" Teacher Bear smiled as she pulled a pair of matching shoes out of the container. The two continued to dig through the containers until they had found Teacher Bear's winter clothes and what they wanted Mrs. Mulcahey's corpse to wear.

From there, they worked their way down the hall to what was left of Teacher Bear's old room. Most everything in the bedroom had been damaged, accept for the Tuppermaid container in the closet that contained photos and other precious things. Upon opening the lid marked "Bluebelle's special box," she smiled happily at the sight of her precious things. "I'm happy to see that your things are alright," Father Mulcahey said as he looked in the container. "So am I," she replied, wiping her eyes.

They took another quick browse through the house, finding very little that was salvageable. Once they finished browsing, the two Mulcahey's worked together to haul the Tuppermaid containers successfully out of the window.

Once outside, they each took a few deep breaths. "Oh my," Father Mulcahey said, wiping his forehead with his handkerchief, "I'm afraid I'm a bit out of shape." The old bear could not help smiling as she wiped the sweat from her own forehead. As they recuperated from their excursions, they could not help noticing that the sky was beginning to cloud up. "Are we expecting rain Bluebelle?" Father Mulcahey asked. Teacher Bear shrugged her shoulders. "It wouldn't surprise me," she said.

As promised, the cabbie returned in the allotted time and helped them load the containers into his vehicle. "Were to now?" the cabbie asked Father Mulcahey. "To the morgue, please," he said as he got into the cab and buckled his seatbelt.

As the cab pulled away from the remains of the house, Teacher Bear sank comfortably into her seat. "Well," she said, "at least this errand went smoothly, thanks to those Tuppermaid containers." "Yes," Father Mulcahey agreed, "I just hope that our next errand goes just as smoothly. In the mean time, thank God for Tuppermaid!" Teacher Bear let out a satisfactory smile. "I already did," she said.

*****

"Tender Heart!" Grumpy Bear called out as he ran down the rainbow roads of Care-A-Lot. "Tender Heart! Where are you?" he called out again, his lungs tired from his running and yelling. Slowing his pace to a walk, Grumpy took a deep breath and let it out in order to relax his spinning head. After taking the time to breath, he decided that he needed to sit down for a second and think. "Hmmm…" he thought aloud, "I wonder where he could have gotten off too."

As he looked around from where he sat, he saw Wish Bear sitting on her cloud looking through her star-o-scope down at the world. Figuring that the star-o-scope would help him out in his search better than his vain attempt to chase his friend down, he decided to ask if she could help him in his search.

"Hi Wish!" he said waving at his friend. "Oh, hi Grumpy!" she said, surprised to hear his voice behind her. "You're not normally up at this hour of the morning," she added with a smile. Grumpy blushed. "I know," he said, "but I had to wake up early this morning. Something's wrong with Tender Heart." "Oh my stars!" Wish exclaimed, placing her hand on her cheek. "What's going on with Tender Heart? Is his baby sick or something?" Grumpy shook his head. "No, Big Heart's fine, but Tender Heart is having trouble adjusting. He ran off this morning after he and Love-A-Lot had a spat."

Wish Bear could not believe her ears. "Tender Heart and Love-A-Lot were fighting!" she asked in a terrified tone. "Well, not exactly," Grumpy began explaining. "Tender Heart is just having trouble adjusting and he's having trouble accepting his mistakes. I was a lot like that when Strategy Bear was born, remember?" "Oh yeah," she said smiling, "I thought we'd never find you! Of all places, who would have thought you'd be crouched in cardboard box in that alley. You were in bad shape too."

Grumpy blushed wildly as he remembered crouching in an alley and staring off into space for two days. He hadn't even bothered eating or going to the bathroom outside of the box that he found sanctuary in. "Yeah, it wasn't too good," he said, "but right now, we need to find Tender Heart. Have you seen him in your star-o-scope?"

Wish shook her head. "I'm afraid I haven't," she said. "I can keep looking around for you though," she added encouragingly. Grumpy thanked her. "I appreciate it," he said. "Hey Grumpy," she added, "why don't you make an announcement on the intercom and see if anyone has seen him." Grumpy smiled. "That's a great idea!" he said, giving her a big hug that almost made her drop her star-o-scope. "No problem," she said, recovering from the hug, "In the mean time, I'll keep an eye out for him."

*****

The cab screeched to a stop in front of the morgue where Mrs. Mulcahey's body waited for them. The clouds had grown dark and heavy, giving the mortuary an eerie look. Both Teacher Bear and Father Mulcahey felt their stomachs turn as they looked out the cab window.

"That'll be $18.37," the cabbie said, giving them their cab fair. Father Mulcahey pulled some money out of his pocket and paid the cab fair as Teacher Bear gathered the clothes for Mrs. Mulcahey to wear at her funeral.

Standing outside the building, both the bear and the priest felt very uneasy. "Well, Bluebelle, are you ready to go in?" Father Mulcahey asked, mustering up a smile. "As ready as I ever will be," Teacher Bear responded, mustering up a smile of her own. With his hand on his old friend's shoulder, Father Mulcahey escorted Teacher Bear inside the mortuary.

Upon entering the building, they were greeted by the undertaker, a man dressed in black with a dark blue tie. "Can I help you?" came the deep, gruff voice of the undertaker as he walked from behind the counter. "Um…yes actually," replied Father Mulcahey in a rather uncomfortable tone. "We've come looking for my mother. She passed away during the storm the other day." "Lotta folks died in the storm," the undertaker said flatly, "especially old ones. Got in eleven old fogies."

Both the Mulcaheys stomachs turned at the thought of the eleven dead bodies laying to rest in the morgue. The undertaker opened the door to where the corpses lie waiting for them. "You'll have to identify the body," the undertaker said as they walked into the cold room. The stench of embalming fluids and rotting flesh fell over them as they made their way inside.

The undertaker walked up to what looked like a gigantic filing cabinet. "Is this one yours?" he asked as he pulled on the drawer's handle, revealing the naked corpse of an older woman. The old bear stepped back in horror at the sight of the woman. "N…n…no," she stuttered, shielding her eyes so as not to look upon the dead body. "Older that that?" the undertaker said, not at all phased by what he had pulled from the drawer. Teacher Bear nodded sickly, still not looking at him or the contents of the drawer.

The undertaker walked up to higher drawer and pulled it out. "How about this one?" he said, pulling it out. "N…no," she said again, this time recognizing the corpse as one of Mrs. Mulcahey's old friends from church. Her stomach was beginning to feel more and more ill at this point.

The undertaker closed the drawer without even flinching and proceeded to another. This next drawer was very close to the floor. "This her?" he said as he pulled the drawer out, revealing the dead body of Mrs. Mulcahey. Teacher Bear nodded sickly, her eyes tearing up and her stomach making a peculiar noise. "Excuse me," she said weakly as she fled from the room.

The undertaker closed the drawer and led Father Mulcahey out. Father Mulcahey himself was very quiet at this point. Though he had seen much death and destruction during the Korean War, nothing could have prepared him for seeing his own mother dead. "Well," he said weakly as he and the undertaker approached the counter, "what do we do now?" "I need to know which funeral home to send the body to. I see you brought clothes for the body," the undertaker said in a matter-of-fact tone. Father Mulcahey gave him the clothes and his mother's lawyer's business card. "Mr. Drury has all my mother's funeral requests in her will," Father Mulcahey explained. The undertaker nodded as he took the business card from the priest. "Got a number we can call you?" he asked as he looked up from the card. "Oh, yes. I've got it on me somewhere," Father Mulcahey said as he searched his pockets for the telephone number to the homeless shelter.

After he had found the phone number, the undertaker told him that someone would contact him this evening with further funeral arrangements. He then handed the priest a form to fill out. Once the form was completed, Father Mulcahey handed it to the undertaker and thanked him. "Sure thing," he said with an unnatural smile, "and have a nice day."

Glad to have that ordeal over, Father Mulcahey walked outside. There he saw Teacher Bear leaning up against the building with her hand on her stomach, sputtering and gasping for air. "Bluebelle, are you alright?" he asked frantically. "Oh Francis!" she said crying, reaching out to him to be held, "I threw up!" Father Mulcahey embraced her as she continued to cry. "I've never seen anyone act so casually about death in all my life!" she cried out. "Oh Bluebelle. I wish I could say the same thing," he said as he thought back to his days in the Korean War.

Rain began to fall gently as the two Mulcaheys walked back to the cab. "Come on Bluebelle," Father Mulcahey said tenderly as he took his old friend's hand, "we still have many miles ahead of us before today is done."

*****

"What is wrong with me!" Tender Heart thought to himself as he walked along a nearly empty street in a place he did not recognize. "I'm the leader of the entire Care Bear family and yet I can't take care of my own son!" Tears rolled down his cheeks as he continued to think angry thoughts.

All around him was nothing but a dreary suburb. Dark rain clouds rolled overhead, bathing the depressing scenery in a despicably dark shade of gray. Many of the houses windows and doors were either boarded up or had bars over them. Sounds of people fighting or the screams of neglected children could be heard in some of the houses, but Tender Heart did not care to investigate. He was far too engrossed in his own woes to think of anything else.

It had begun to rain as Tender Heart continued to walk down the lonely street, kicking sticks and empty cans on his way. Seeing as how it was raining, he decided to take shelter in a nearby abandoned apartment complex. He walked into the empty building and sat in the doorway, staring out into the gloomy surroundings. Little did he know that he was not alone…

"Hey freak baby!" came a young man's voice from the inside of the apartment. "What you doin' here!" "It's raining," Tender Heart said flatly, not even bothering to turn around to make contact with whomever he was speaking to him. "I know it's rainin' freak baby! What you doin' here on my turf!" the tall, thin, scraggly young man said with even more attitude, approaching Tender Heart.

Tender Heart was in no mood for confrontations. "Fine!" he yelled at the young man, making eye contact, "If it means so much to you, I'll leave!" Stunned by the bear's sudden bravery, the young man softened his tone. "Yo man, chill!" he said, "I didn' mean nothin' by it!" Tender Heart's gaze went back into murky suburb. "I'm sorry," he said, "I've had a rough couple of days." "It's cool," the young man said as he sat next to the bear, "Why don' I get ya somethin' to drink and you tell me 'bout it." Tender Heart looked up at the young man and thanked him. "Sure," he said as he called out to his friend. "Hey Blowfish! Get this freak baby somethin' to drink!" "What should I get 'em Stick!" his friend responded. "Anything but the good stuff!" the young man named Stick shouted back.

Blowfish, a short, chubby, light haired young boy, walked down the hallway with three cans of Budweiser. "What's up Stick? Who's your friend?" he asked as he gave Stick a beer. "Just some freak baby with a problem," he said as he popped the cap off his can and took a swig. "What's goin' on with you Freak Baby?" he asked Tender Heart as he handed him a beer. Tender Heart let out a sigh as he accepted the licker. "My wife had a baby the other day," he said, popping the cap on his own can. "So," said Blowfish, "Lotsa people have babies." Stick gave Blowfish an uneasy look as he spoke.

To avoid being rude, Tender Heart took a sip from his can, surprised by the taste and the sudden rush he got from the alcohol. "I keep messing up though," he said as he took a deep breath in reaction to his drink, "I've almost hurt him a few times!" Stick laughed. "I did that too with my baby," he said. "You did?" Tender Heart said, hoping to get a glimmer of hope, "What did you do? Did it all work out?" Stick sighed, as though he did not want to answer Tender Heart's question. "Yeah, it's cool," he lied with as much dignity as he could muster, "My baby mama takin' care of it. They doin' alright."

Tender Heart could not believe what he had just heard. "You mean…you abandoned your baby?" he said horrified. "And what you doin' Freak Baby? Going out for a walk!" Stick said defensively. "Yeah Freak Baby. Judge not lest ye be judged!" Blowfish added, "That's in the bible ya know!"

Tender Heart took a long drink from his can of beer, savoring the rush he felt from the amber liquid. "You're right guys," he said as he wiped off his mouth, "I'm sorry." "It's cool," replied Stick, finishing the contents of his can. "Hey Blowfish," he said to his friend, "Get me another one, would ya." Blowfish obediently got up. "Hey Freak Baby," he said as he got up, "you want another one?" Tender Heart looked into his can and was surprised to see that it was nearly empty. "Um…sure…thanks." he said as Blowfish walked down the hall to freshen everyone's drinks.

Chapter 7: Lost

Adorned in a second hand black dress, Teacher Bear and her children waited in the near empty lobby of the funeral home. With what Mrs. McBride had available in the bins, Teacher Bear had dressed the children as nicely as she could.

"How's everything going, Bluebelle," Father Mulcahey said as cheerfully as he could, despite the situation. "Oh, okay I guess," responded the bear, not even lifting her head. She sat quietly, her attention focused on a few of the children as they sat innocently on the floor, playing with a few of the toys that Klinger had given them. As the other children played with their new toys, Grateful Heart seemed engrossed in a picture he was drawing with crayons.

Teacher Bear's silence made for an uncomfortable lull in the conversation. "Well…" Father Mulcahey said awkwardly, "It's almost 11:30, so I guess I'd better check up on a few more things before we open the doors. Okay?" Still fixated on the children, she let out a monotone "Go ahead. I'll be here."

Letting out one last awkward smile to the nonobservant bear, Father Mulcahey turned around to leave. Just as he was about to make his turn, he felt something latch onto his ankle. "Fanci!" chimed Charity Heart's warm little voice as she hugged his ankle and her stuffed cow at the same time. "Well hello Charity Heart!" he said with a big smile, glad to see that someone was happy to see him. He turned around and scooped the affectionate little fox cub into his arms. "I see you still have your moo cow I gave you from the other day," he said smiling as Charity Heart continued to hug the stuffed animal.

Teacher Bear turned around to see the two smiling Mulcahey's. Part of her was glad to see that they were happy, but part of her was jealous because her relationship with the cubs had not been so carefree. Father Mulcahey had seen her turn around and smiled again at her. "Didn't you need to go somewhere?" she said blankly, not returning the smile. "Oh…well…I guess I did," Father Mulcahey responded, his smile vanishing as he spoke. "Well, little one," he said to the baby fox, "I guess I'd better put you back with your Teacher Bear," The fox cub began to whimper as the priest set her down on the couch next to her guardian. "If you want to take her along, go ahead," Teacher Bear said flatly. "Are you quite sure?" Father Mulcahey questioned, surprised by the tone in the old bear's voice. "Go ahead," she answered with a sigh. "Obviously she doesn't want to be around me." Taking a deep breath, Father Mulcahey once again picked up Charity Heart, much to her delight. "Okay Bluebelle," he said as he walked off with Charity Heart, "but if you need anything, we'll be by the door."

As Father Mulcahey and Charity Heart made their way toward the entrance to greet their guests, Teacher Bear noticed a familiar odor in the air. One look at Hungry Heart's pleased _expression was proof enough that he had once again soiled his diaper. "Oh dear, not again!" thought Teacher Bear to herself as she picked up the content little billygoat. "There are times I think I should have named you Poopy Heart instead of Hungry Heart!" she said to the cub as she took him and a diaper bag to the bathroom.

*****

Having no luck from the day before, Grumpy Bear, Share Bear, and Love-A-Lot Bear called a morning meeting in the Hall of Hearts to look for Tender Heart Bear.

True Heart Bear banged her gavel to quiet the group of Care Bears and Care Bear Cousins. "According to Love-A-Lot, Share and Grumpy, Tender Heart has been missing since early yesterday morning," she announced. "He HAS been missing!" Love-A-Lot said franticly, "He didn't come home last night!" Once again, True Heart banged her gavel to quiet down the frantic fuchsia bear. "I know he's gone Love-A-Lot," she said in a soothing voice, "That's why we're assembled here." Share Bear put a hand on Love-A-Lot Bear's shoulder to calm her down. "Sit down and take a deep breath," she said as Love-A-Lot began to weep, her tears landing on Big Heart's head.

True Heart once again faced her audience. "Wish Bear," she said, looking in the direction of the teal bear whose duty was normally that of the star-o-scope. Due to lack of sleep from searching the night before, Wish had dosed off in her seat.

In the seat next to her sat Funshine Bear. "Funshine," said True Heart, "Do you mind." "Not at all," she said as she turned to her seat neighbor. "Gooooood morning Wish Bear!" she said loudly in her ear, imitating an obnoxious radio disk jockey. "Hey, when did I get on the Mueller Morning Show?" Wish responded sleepily, tapping Funshine on the head as though she were an alarm clock. The Hall of Hearts roared with laughter as True Heart banged her gavel.

Wish Bear's head rose slowly as she became aware of her nodding off. "Oh my stars!" she said embarrassed, "I'm so sorry. I was up all night looking for Tender Heart and I must have dozed off!" True Heart smiled sweetly at the blushing teal bear. "It's alright dear. Have you seen any trace of Tender Heart with your star-o-scope?" Wish Bear shook her head. "I looked all over," she said, "Bedtime Bear even helped me look during the night and we still couldn't find anything."

"Wait a second!" interjected Loyal Heart Dog. "What if No Heart's got him! What use would looking around on earth do if Tender Heart is being put through unspeakable agony by that villain!" The Hall of Heart erupted in agreement with the blue dog, whose face had begun to flush with the loathing he felt for the dark wizard. True Heart once again banged her gavel to silence the crowd of caring creatures. "If that is so," she began, swallowing hard at the thought of poor Tender Heart Bear being nothing more than a guinea pig, "than we shall need to send a troupe out to scout No Heart Castle for any sign of Tender Heart. Do I have any volunteers?"

Loyal Heart obediently raised his hand. The rest of the family could not help admiring not only his bravery and loyalty, but the nobility that he seemed to posses in his appearance. He almost looked like a knight, prepared for an epic battle. "Who's with me!" he shouted out to the crowd of spectators, who viewed him in awe. He laid his eyes upon Brave Heart Lion, who did not seem to want to return his powerful gaze.

Before Loyal Heart could open his mouth to volunteer the lion, he heard a bright, perky voice behind him saying, "Count me in!" Loyal Heart turned around to see Swift Heart Rabbit's smiling face. "You know me Loyal Heart," she giggled. "Quick as a bunny and twice as funny!" "And speaking of funny," included Funshine Bear, who strode proudly to her friend's side, "I'd like to volunteer. Besides, it gets awfully dark in No Heart Castle!" Funshine then Stared a sun shaped lantern to add weight her point.

True Heart nodded. "It's settled then," she said, "Everyone take turns looking through your star-o-scope while these three are away! The rest of you will need to be available for caring missions. We'll keep all of you posted as the day progresses. Meeting adjourned!" With a bang of the gavel, everyone left their seats and began their look for their star-o-scopes as Loyal Heart, Swift Heart, and Funshine began discussing their search and rescue plans.

Love-A-Lot filed out slowly, carrying a whimpering Big Heart. "Don't worry baby," she said as calmly as she could, "We'll find your daddy…I hope." The thought of loosing Tender Heart made her eyes begin to tear up once again. Soon, she and her son were both crying.

Share and True Heart saw Love-A-Lot's open display of emotions and went over to her. "Are you going to be alright dear," Share said. "I don't know," she said, wiping her eyes as the baby continued to cry, "It's hard enough knowing that Tender Heart is gone, but taking care of Big Heart has been rough on me too."

Share Bear put her arm around Love-A-Lot. "Do you need me to come over and help? I can bring Strategy over to keep Big Heart company," she asked. Love-A-Lot nodded, sniffling. True Heart put her arms around the both of them. "Don't worry about star-o-scope duty or caring missions you two," she said, "you'll have enough work with your children."

Both the new mothers thanked True Heart Bear and left for Love-A-Lot's house. Along the way, they saw that Wish Bear had once again dozed off, this time at her star-o-scope station. "Should we wake her?" Share asked. "No," Love-A-Lot said, "she could use the sleep after putting in overtime last night."

*****

Opening the doors, Father Mulcahey was glad to see his sister's smiling face. "Francis!" she called out cheerfully as soon as she saw her brother. "Sis!" he exclaimed, hugging her. "Fanci!" exclaimed Charity Heart, caught in the sibling's embrace.

Sister Angelica was quite surprised by the little cub. "My word Francis!" said Sister Angelica, "Who is this little one and where on earth did you get her?" Handling the fox cub, Father Mulcahey explained Bluebelle's situation as best he could. "Well bless the old bear's heart!" she said, patting the cub on the head. "Indeed Sis," the old priest said, "but I'm afraid things aren't all rosy with Bluebelle. She seems like she's having problems adjusting to the whole situation. I've tried talking to her about it, but you know how she is about keeping those kinds of things to herself." The old nun agreed, recalling when Freckles had passed away. "Well, why don't I pop in and say hello to the old bear and see if I can't cheer her up a bit. Good seeing you again, and it was very nice to meet you, little Charity Heart," she said, patting the red fox cub on the cheek. Stepping aside, Father Mulcahey let his sister walk inside.

"Oh Bluebelle!" Sister Angelica called out to Teacher Bear, who had just finished changing Hungry Heart's diaper. Bluebelle looked up and met eyes with her old friend. "Katherine!" she called out graciously as she carried the freshly changed billygoat cub. "Teka Bat!" Hungry Heart cried out excitedly as the women hugged. "What did he just call you?" Sister Angelica questioned. "Oh, well, Hungry Heart here called me Teacher Bear," she explained. "It's a long story, but the kids picked up on everyone calling 'the teacher's bear' and it's sort of caught on as a nick name." Sister Angelica smiled warmly. "I think it's a great name to be called. After all, you've always wanted to be a teacher."

Teacher Bear stopped looking at Sister Angelica as soon as she mentioned teaching. "I don't know," she said blankly, "school's a bit much right now." The bear looked down at the floor, lost in worry as the billygoat cub began giggling. "Well," Sister Angelica said uneasily, "Francis said that you have a few more children. I've already meet Charity Heart and now little Hungry Heart. May I meet the rest of them?" "Oh my!" Teacher Bear said, "I forgot about the others! I hope they haven't wondered off and gotten themselves lost!"

Walking back over to the couch where the carriage was, her worst fears had been confirmed. "My children!" she screeched out. "It's alright Bluebelle, we'll find them. They couldn't have gotten far," Sister Angelica said as calmly as she could. Despite the tone in her voice, she too was beginning to get worried, especially since the funeral home was beginning to fill with families, friends, and several others. "Would you watch Hungry Heart for me? I need to go look for the others!" Teacher Bear cried. "Certainly dear," Sister Angelica said as she accepted the billygoat cub. Teacher Bear thanked her old friend as she dashed off in search of the rest of the children.

Just as the old bear left, Hungry Heart began crying. "Teka Bat!" he began bawling, reaching his arms out in Teacher Bear's direction. "It's okay Hungry Heart," the old nun said soothingly, "I'm Sister Angelica. I'm going to look after you while your Teacher Bear is gone." Hungry Heart began hiccupping as he continued to cry for his guardian. "Teka Bat, Sissa! Teka Bat! Teka Bat!" he continued to cry, soaking the old nun's shoulder in tears.

Chapter 8: Hot on the Trail

"Ooooo, my head…" Tender Heart Bear said as he awoke. Opening his bloodshot eyes, he was surprised to see that he was inside of a kitchen sink in the abandoned, run down apartment complex.

"Mornin' Freak Baby!" said one of the residents as he saw Tender Heart getting up from inside of the sink. "Is that you, Stick?" he asked, not seeing who had greeted him. "No, man. It's me, Trap!" Tender Heart focused in on the tall, dark Latino man called Trap. "Oh," he said uncertainly, "good morning."

"Man, sounds like you got one hell of a hangover," Trap said as Tender Heart stammered around holding his head. "What's a hangover?" Tender Heart asked as he sat back down in the sink. "It's what you're feelin' now, man. You musta drank too much last night," Trap said. "Here, I got some stuff that'll help ya feel better. Take two of 'em." he said, tossing a bottle of aspirin to the ill bear.

"Um…Trap, can I ask you something?" Tender Heart said, taking one of the aspirin pills. "Sure, man. Whatcha wanna know?" Trap responded. "Well, I don't really remember what happened last night…"

Trap began to laugh. "Oh, man!" Trap said, still laughing, "You was drunk off your mind, man! You did all kinds of crazy stuff! You even punched in some walls in with dat thing on your stomach, man! I ain't never seen nothing like it!" Tender Heart began to blush. "How did I get in the sink?" he asked. "Oh, I don' know, man. I think you said you was thirsty or somethin' and ya fell in and slept."

Tender Heart decided to stand up and try getting out of the sink again. "Hey man, you need a hand?" Trap offered. "No thanks," Tender Heart said, determined to do it himself. He had just about made it out of the sink when he heard another person enter the room. "What's up Freak Baby! What's happinin' Trap!" said the man, rubbing Tender Heart's head and causing him to loose his footing. "Good morning," he replied, picking himself back up from the bottom of the sink. "Hey JD man! How's it goin'," Trap replied, giving JD a high five.

After Trap and JD were done wishing each other a good morning, Stick and Blowfish entered the room. "Hey guys," Tender Heart said flatly from inside the sink. "How's it hangin' Freak Baby!" Stick said, plucking Tender Heart from the sink much to his indignity and placing him on the countertop. "Trap said I have a hangover," he said sickly. Stick laughed. "I ain't surprised," he said, "You did some crazy stuff with that tattoo of yours. Knockin' things over and punchin' holes in the wall. You want some breakfast?" Tender Heart nodded. He was quite hungry from the night before's excursions.

JD grabbed a box of cereal and five disposable bowls out of one of the broken down cabinets. Trap grabbed five disposable spoons from a nearby drawer and Blowfish took a gallon of milk from the refrigerator. The four men and bear each took a place at the countertop to eat.

"I got a question for you Freak Baby," Stick asked Tender Heart between bites of cereal, "How'd ya do what ya did with your tattoo?" "Oh, you mean my tummy symbol?" Tender Heart asked, pointing to the large red heart on his stomach. "Yeah, how'd ya make it work?" Stick continued to question. "It's easy," Tender Heart said, giving them a demonstration. Lighting up his tummy symbol, he soon had a hand full of napkins for his new friends. "That's wack, man!" said Trap as he accepted the napkin, "Can you do more stuff, man?" Tender Heart blushed. "Why, sure!" he said, eager to do another demonstration. He lit up his tummy symbol once again, this time making a heart shaped candle and a match to light it. The men were clearly impressed, which made Tender Heart feel good after the period of bad recognition.

As Tender Heart continued to use his tummy symbol for the men's amusement, Stick began brewing up an unpleasant idea, a thought that did not sit well with him at all. "Hey Freak Baby, you gonna stick around?" he asked a bit hesitantly. "Well…I really should be getting home soon," he replied, a bit disappointed about leaving his new friends. Stick smiled at his new friend. "Why don't you come downtown with us today. I think your tummy symbol might impress a couple other people we know, ya know." Tender Heart smiled at the possibility of positive recognition, a smile that Stick did not return. "Well…okay! I guess a few more hours won't hurt," he responded, smiling broadly. "Good," Stick said as if he and Tender Heart had just had a verbal agreement, "now eat your breakfast. We got a busy day ahead of us."

*****

"Where on earth could they be!" Teacher Bear thought to herself as she franticly dashed around the lobby. "We're going to start letting people in for the wake at any moment and I can't find them anywhere!"

Running past a room where a wake was already taking place, she heard a loud scream. "The flowers!" screeched a middle aged woman when a large funeral display of chrysanthemums had come crashing to the ground. In the midst of the flowery mess sat Pretty Heart, tossing the loosened flower petals in the air and giggling playfully. "Pitty! Ya!" she giggled as she sniffed one of the chrysanthemums.

"Pretty Heart Mulcahey!" Teacher Bear yelled in a less than impressed tone. The little pink skunk cub looked at her guardian and held out the flower he had been smelling. "Pitty Tara Bea!" she said happily.

After she picked up the pink skunk cub, Teacher Bear turned around to the large group of spectators. "I'm terribly sorry," she apologized, "She and a few of my other children ran off while I wasn't looking and I'm trying to find them…" Just as she was about to finish her sentence, one of the men interrupted. "There's another one!" he said, pointing his finger in the direction of the casket. Sure enough, Thorough Heart was examining one of the flower pots near the casket, digging his paw into the dirt and tasting it. "Phhhhhhtt!" the orange weasel cub spat the hand full of dirt all over the floor. "Oh Thorough Heart, must you examine everything!" Teacher Bear said, picking him up as he continued to cough dirt out of his mouth. "Ter Beet!" he whimpering over the taste in his mouth.

Just as she was about to scold Thorough Heart for his insubordination, she heard someone call out to her. "There you are!" said Klinger, who was holding a wet cub. "I found Curious Heart in the bathroom. He was playing with the toilet." "Oh my word, Curious Heart. You're a mess!" she said in frustration to the purple wolf cub. "That's nothing," said Klinger, "you should see the bathroom! He put two whole rolls of toilet paper in one of the johns and tried to flush them down!" Teacher Bear cringed at the thought of the mens room toilet over flowing, and how much more trouble the final two missing cubs were probably getting themselves into. "Klinger, would you mind looking after these three while I look for Grateful Heart and Passive Heart?" Teacher Bear begged. "Sure, no problem Teach!" he said, taking the two cubs from the weary bear. "If you need me, I'll be in the playroom at the end of the hall with these three."

After thanking Klinger, Teacher Bear turned back to the spectators to apologize once again. As Klinger walked out of the room, he could be heard chattering with the cubs he was holding. "Hey there little lady. Where'd ya get the pretty flower?" "Tara Bea!" Pretty Heart responded, holding out the flower for Klinger to sniff.

After her heart felt apology, which was not as well received as she would have hoped, Teacher Bear skulked off to look for the final two cubs. "Grateful Heart! Passive Heart!" she desperately called out into the long hallway. "Maybe I'm just not cut out for parenting," she thought to herself as she walked down the hall in search of the final two cubs.

*****

"Okay, okay, I got one. Knock knock…" giggled Funshine Bear as she and Swift Heart Rabbit amused themselves in the backseat of Loyal Heart Dog's cloud car. Loyal Heart, who was trying to concentrate on his driving and the newly hatched rescue plans, was not at all amused by his back seat passengers' lack of seriousness. "Who's there?" said Swift Heart and Loyal Heart in stereo, Swift Heart's tone much lighter hearted than Loyal Heart's. "To!" was Funshine's response. "To who?" the two cousins once again responded, in the same tones as before. "To you!" she finished, Staring a bright sun out from her tummy symbol and giving it to her friend Swift Heart, who giggled as she accepted the glowing sun from her friend.

"What do you think you're doing!" Loyal Heart exclaimed as he slammed on the breaks, stopping the cloud car abruptly. "Oh come on Loyal Heart," said Swift Heart, "it's just a harmless joke!" "Harmless my blue buns!" he yelped, snatching the sun from Swift Heart and tossing it into the glove compartment. "Do you want to give our presence away!" he continued, maniacally staring Funshine and Swift Heart down.

The two backseat passengers found it hard to return Loyal Heart's gaze. They hadn't even considered that their simple jokings would cause such an uproar. Funshine and Swift Heart apologized for their misbehavior. Loyal Heart took a deep breath. "Look," he began, "I'm just afraid, okay. If Tender Heart is in that awful castle, the Great Wishing Star only knows what's happening to him!" Both the bear and the bunny placed a paw on Loyal Heart's shoulders. "We know ya care about Tender Heart," said Funshine with an encouraging smile. Loyal Heart gave a small smile back to his friends. "Come on guys, serious up," he said, "let's get going. We've got to see what's going on in that castle."

Little did they know that other plots were arising in No Heart Castle, and none of them had to do with Tender Heart Bear.

As the three members of the Care Bear family approached the castle, they heard a familiar voice singing from one of the open windows. "Cement mixer, putty putty," sang out Beastly as he blended dry cement with sand and gravel. "A puddle o' vooty, a puddle o' gooty, a puddle o'…" "Beastly!!!!!!!!" screeched out the annoyed Shreeky. Beastly shuttered at the sound of Shreeky's voice. The aggravated girl marched into the room, her magic mirror warming up. "Are you almost done with that dry mix yet, fur ball?" she said angrily. "Just about, Shreeky," he responded in a slightly fearful tone. "Good," she said in an evil tone, "Uncle No Heart will be so proud of me!"

Beastly scratched his head as he asked her what the dry mixture was for. "Simple," she said, "Care-A-Lot is made out of clouds. You know what clouds are made of, don't you?" Beastly stood dumbfounded, scratching his head even harder to help him think. "Y' I don't know," he said, bracing himself for a zap of the magic mirror. "It's water!" she yelled, pointing her magic mirror at Beastly. "Concrete is a mixture of cement, gravel, sand, and WATER you imbecile! We pour the dry mixture over Care-A-Lot and the water from the clouds soaks it in, making Care-A-Lot rock solid!"

Loyal Heart Dog, Funshine Bear, and Swift Heart Rabbit all gasped at the thought of their home as a gigantic sidewalk in the sky. Loyal Heart turned to his friends and whispered into their ears. "We'd better check out the other windows before we go back to Care-A-Lot," he said, his voice riddled with worry. Swift Heart and Funshine nodded as Loyal Heart drove the car to another window.

*****

"Grateful Heart! Passive Heart!" Teacher Bear called out as she dashed down the hallway. As she continued her pace down the hallway, the floor became increasingly moist as she passed the men's room. "This must be Curious Heart's work," she thought to herself as she walked across the soggy floor.

"Hey Teach!" came Klinger's voice from down the hallway, "Look who I found in the playroom!" He was holding the blue badger cub, Passive Heart, in his arms as Teacher Bear ran up to him. "You mean he was in the play room the entire time?" she said, taking the cub from Klinger and hugging him thankfully. "Sure was," he said, "he was taking a nap."

With the four cubs now in the playroom, one cub with Father Mulcahey, and one cub with Sister Angelica, only Grateful Heart remained to be found. "Is anyone looking after the cubs in the playroom now?" she asked Klinger as she held Passive Heart. Klinger's jaw dropped. "Um, not really," he said, trying to skirt around the subject. "Klinger! How could you leave them alone!" she squealed as she handed Passive Heart back to Klinger. Klinger than dashed off down the hall with Passive Heart wailing for his guardian.

"Well," she said to herself as she walked away from where she and Klinger had met, "one left to find." As she passed by the murky bathroom entrance, she met up with Father Mulcahey and Charity Heart. "How's the search going Bluebelle?" he asked as Charity Heart reached out for Teacher Bear. "I just have to find Grateful Heart," she said enthusiastically. "Wonderful," he said, "we're just about to open the door for mom's wake, so you'd better hurry."

Teacher Bear thanked him for the heads up as she dashed across the wet carpet. Charity Heart looked sadly over Father Mulcahey's shoulder as her guardian rounded the corner. "Tete Ba," she groaned as Father Mulcahey tried to hush her crying. "It's okay, Charity Heart," he said in a gentle voice, "you'll see her shortly. She just has to find your brother now."

Little did they know that Grateful Heart would soon be looking for Teacher Bear for his own reasons…

After he had gotten into a sibling spat with Thorough Heart (which incidentally caused the current chaos of missing cubs), Grateful Heart had found himself a nice quiet spot to finish his crayon drawing. "Tetur Bar!" Grateful Heart giggled as he put the finishing touches on his drawing. The green hedgehog sat back and admired his work with a satisfactory smile. In his minds eye, he had drawn a picture of Teacher Bear, himself, and his brothers and sisters.

He then looked around for his guardian so that he could show her his handy work, but could not find her. "Tetur Bar," he called out, hoping to get a response. When he did not get the response that he was hoping for, he decided to take matters into his own hand. With his stumpy arm, he pressed the picture into his chest to hold it in place so that he could crawl on his good arm. Little Grateful Heart was now ready to find his Teacher Bear!

Once he had left his quiet spot, he noticed an open door that lead to the outside of the building. "Tetur Bar!" he gurgled as he made his way to the door, assuming that she had stepped outside for a bit.

After he had concurred the low step that lead outside, Grateful Heart was welcomed with the a nice patch of soft green grass. Surely he would find his Teacher Bear is such a lovely place. The little hedgehog began crawling around the grounds, determined to find his guardian.

Chapter 9: No One Is Perfect

"This is da place Freak Baby," Stick said somberly as he and his crew stopped their car in front of a large, elaborate alleyway. Tender Heart Bear had an uneasy feeling about this place. "Is…this where your friends live?" he asked, swallowing hard. "Na!" replied JD, shaking his head casually, "It's just his turf. It's where he do business."

Just then, a stout, intimidating man dressed in gray and black stepped out from behind one of the doors that lead into the alley. A group of similarly dressed men swarmed behind him, giving the stout man the look of a king bee amongst his drones.

"Good afternoon, Stick," he said with a wide grin that showed three shimmering gold teeth. "'Sup Lord Bob," Stick responded, shaking hands with the leader of the gray clad gang. "Business has been rather slow I'm afraid," replied Lord Bob in a regal tone, "But enough about my small problems. Please introduce me to your guest that you have told me so much about."

Lord Bob looked hungrily at Tender Heart as he reached his hand out to introduce himself. "Um…hi. I'm Tender Heart," came the bear's hesitant introduction. Stick and his gang began to laugh. "Tender Heart!!" Blowfish howled in laughter, "Man Freak Baby! What kinda name is that!" Tender Heart began to blush, both in embarrassment and in anger of being ridiculed. "I think it's a fine name," replied Lord Bob in a tone that demanded respect as he shook Tender Heart's paw.

Once hand shakes had been exchanged, Lord Bob offered Tender Heart a seat on a broken down sofa. "Stick tells me that you have a great talent in that tummy symbol of yours," he said, indicating the large heart upon Tender Heart's stomach. "Oh…well…um…" Tender Heart did not know where to begin. Lord Bob simply smiled at the stammering bear. "He says that you almost knocked down a few walls at his place last night. He also says that you can make solid objects appear. Is this true?" "Oh sure," said Tender Heart as he stood up to give a demonstration.

Lighting up his tummy symbol, Tender Heart produced a replica of his symbol in solid form. Both gangs sounded impressed, and Lord Bob smiled with satisfaction. "Excellent," he said, "now why not show us the wall trick that you performed at Stick's place. There's a free wall over there." Lord Bob pointed to a brick building across the street. Both gangs seemed to be preparing themselves for the blow from the bear's tummy symbol as he looked at the building. "I can't do that!" Tender Heart said, looking horrified. "That's destruction of property! We'd be breaking the law!"

Lord Bob gave an evil chuckle. "Come come now," he said in a velvety tone, "the city plans to tear down that building soon to put up a bigger one. We would be doing them a public service by clearing it for free. It would help the city's economy." A low ripple of laughter passed through the prepared gang members. "I…can't," said the brown bear. "It just doesn't seem right."

Lord Bob frowned melodramatically, hoping to tap into the bear's emotions. "What a shame," Lord Bob said, egging on the bear. "Stick told me so much about your abilities, but if you are not capable of such feats…" "It's not that I can't," said Tender Heart as he tried to save his dignity, "I just don't think it's right." "You don't think it's right to help a starving community, let alone show your new friends what you can do in the process? My, my, what a shame." said Lord Bob, continuing his winning interrogation.

Tender Heart was beginning to feel the pressure of the leering crowd. He took a deep breath as he begin to cave into the peer pressure. "Okay," he said hesitantly, "if it will help the community." Lord Bob sat back comfortably on the broken down sofa, a satisfied grin upon his broad face. Tender Heart turned himself toward the building, counting down to himself as he prepared to Stare. As he prepared himself to Stare, he was able to take a better look at the imposing building and noticed that it had a Commerce Bank logo. "No wonder they want me to do it!" he thought to himself. "It's a bank!"

"What you waitin' for Freak Baby!" Stick called out nervously as Tender Heart stood facing the building. "Blow it away!" Tender Heart turned calmly back around toward the on looking gang. "I've changed my mind," he said calmly, looking both Stick and Lord Bob in the face. "I don't think the bank would appreciate having heart shaped holes punched through it, even if they do plan to replace the building soon."

Both of the men looked outraged. "What about my baby and my baby mama! They gotta eat ya know Freak Baby!" Stick hollered in a desperate attempt to change Tender Heart's mind. Tender Heart stood his ground. "I thought you weren't concerned about them," he replied, "If you really care about them, you should get a proper job and help support them instead of running away from your problems with this gang!" The last part of his sentence rang in his ears as he said it, tugging viciously his heart.

Lord Bob stepped in front of Stick and stared Tender Heart in the eye, looking as though we would pounce upon the little bear if he did not do as he was told. "I have been more than kind to you little bear," he said in a gruff tone that matched his maniacal gaze, "but if you do not do as I say, we shall think nothing of destroying you!" The gang began to crowd around him in a circle, making the threat seem like a death trap.

Tender Heart felt helpless. "What'll I do?" he thought to himself as all eyes pointed at him. "I should have stayed in Care-A-Lot! I should have been a better dad! I should have never been a dad in the first place! I should have… no." He looked at Stick, who's eyes seemed distant in comparison to the other gang members, as though he was battling with the idea of robbing the bank, but for reasons all his own. It was then that Tender Heart knew what to do. The answer seemed to be there in front of him, right there on Stick's face. "I can't dwell on the past," he thought again to himself, "I need to make things right again."

He put one foot in front of the other, bracing himself for a powerful Care Bear Stare. "I need to get to my son!" he said to the crowd, his voice ringing out loud and clear. Lord Bob pulled a pocket knife from his pocket. "That is not the answer I was looking for," he said as he raised the knife. "Yeah," said Stick out of nowhere as he came to Tender Heart's side, "but it's a damn good answer if ya ask me!"

Lord Bob put his hand in the air to stop the gangs from attacking. "Step aside Stick," he cooed to the scraggly young man, "We don't want to ruin all that I have given you, do we? A place to stay, money for you and your illegitimate child. Think about it, Stick. Is the cuddly little bear really worth it?" Stick stood his ground. "I'm tired of bein' a puppet for ya. It took this lil' guy's bravery to help me see this." Lord Bob let out a less than amused sigh. "You leave me not choice Stick," he said as he lowered his hand, signaling the gangs to attack.

Stick put his hand on Tender Heart's shoulder as the gangs advanced. Just as he thought he was done for, Tender Heart let out a brilliant Care Bear Stare. The Stare seemed to numb the group of attackers as Tender Heart gave all that he had. "For Big Heart!" he yelled as his Stare intensified.

Tender Heart's Stare was bright and brilliant, showing just how much he cared. It was so bright in fact that it could be seen in in a place far away, where his friends were looking for him…

"There he is! I see him!" Harmony Bear called out to his nearby friends. "Where! Where do you see him?" asked Lotsa Heart Elephant, so excited by the possibility of finding the lost Care Bear that he nearly dropped his star-o-scope. Harmony pointed to Harrisburg, PA so that Lotsa Heart, Harmony Bear, and Playful Heart Monkey could each look through their star-o-scopes and see Tender Heart Bear. "That's him all right!" Lotsa Heart replied as he peered through his star-o-scope, "I'd recognize that Stare any ware, and that's the truth!"

Within minutes, Playful Heart had brought around his cloud car. "Hop in you two!" he said, "We've got a Care Bear to save!" Lotsa Heart and Harmony jumped into the cloud car and buckled their seatbelts. Playful Heart revved up the engine as he began his take off.

As Playful Heart Monkey began accelerating toward his destination, Harmony Bear used the cloud car's phone. "Hello, True Heart," she said, "We've found him! Lotsa Heart, Playful Heart and I are going after him right now!" On the other end of the phone, True Heart Bear was ecstatic, asking Harmony if Tender Heart was alright. "We don't know yet. We just saw his Stare. We'll update you as soon as we find out more of what's happening." True Heart thanked Harmony as they hung up their phones.

As Playful Heart descended into Harrisburg, Tender Heart's Stare became brighter and brighter. "You don't think he's in trouble, do you?" asked Harmony Bear. "I think he's in danger, and that's the truth!" remarked Lotsa Heart as they saw the large gang crowded around him and a scraggily young man.

The young man looked up as he saw the cloud car coming nearer. He motioned it's presence to Tender Heart, who was beginning to get worn out from his Stare. Stick picked him up just as he was about to faint. Once the Stare had dissipated, the gang began to get back to its feet an begin the assault again.

Lotsa Heart Called a rope, tied part of it to the seat, and threw the other end over to Stick and Tender Heart. "Grab on!" he yelled over the side to Stick, who obediently grabbed on tightly, still holding the worn out Tender Heart. "Hang on tight!" yelled out Playful Heart as he threw the car into an upward reverse, lifting the group into the air and out of harms way.

"Hey Freak…I mean Tender Heart, we made it!" shouted Stick as he and his friend sailed through the air, their feet dangling freely below them. "Yeah, we did," said Tender Heart with a nervous smile, "but I'd feel a little bit better if we were in the cloud car!" "Oh dear!" exclaimed Playful Heart, "I almost forgot about that!" With a sharp turn, Playful Heart headed toward the top of a building that would be safe to land on.

Once Playful Heart had landed the cloud car on the roof top and both Stick and Tender Heart were safely grounded, Tender Heart went about introducing his new friend to his Care Bear family. "So Mr. Stick," said Harmony Bear, "where are you from?" "I'm from Hershey. Hershey, Pennsylvania," he said with a smile, "and don't be callin' me Mr. I aint nobody special like that." "Sure you are Stick, and that's the truth!" said Lotsa Heart, puffing him self up confidently.

"Man, you all is really somethin'," Stick said, grinning from ear to ear. "Aint no body been this nice to me in a long time." Playful Heart's smile slowly vanished. "Are you serious? No one has been this kind to you in a while?" Stick nodded as he sat down on the trunk of the cloud car. "Last person been this nice to me was my baby mama, and that's a long time ago," he said, letting out a lonely sigh. Tender Heart sat next to his new friend to comfort him. "What happened between you and her?" he asked. "It's a long story man," Stick replied, his voice wavering emotionally. "That's okay. I'd like to here about it if you want to tell me," Tender Heart persisted as he put a comforting paw on Stick's shoulder. Stick could not help feeling good about the support his new friends had given him. There was definitely something about these creatures that made Stick feel at ease.

Stick reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet. "This is Angela," he said, pulling a worn picture from his wallet. "We was real close, her and me. We went to grade school together an' everythin'. She was always there for me too. Whenever mom an' dad would fight or do drugs or somethin' stupid an' I couldn't sleep cause I was worried, she was there for me. An' her family wasn't worth much too. Sometimes she did without so's I could be happy. She was my best friend and I loved her a lot." Tears began to roll down Stick's thin face. He took a deep breath as Tender Heart rubbed his back sympathetically. "She sounds like a wonderful person," he said as Stick dabbed his eyes with a dirty rag from his pocket. "She's a angel. And I messed up her life!" Stick began to sob heavily into his rag. "There, there, it's okay," said Tender Heart softly in an attempt to comfort his friend. "It's not okay man! I got her pregnant! When the baby was born, I got scared an' ran off! I aint seen her in over a year! I wanted to stick around an' help her, but I was to damn scared! I ended up working for Lord Bob so's he could send her money an' now look at what I done! I ruined her!" Stick screamed and cried as the Care Bear family members stood helplessly and watched.

Lotsa Heart approached the crying man. "Look at the bright side Stick," he said. "At least your not with that nasty gang anymore! And that's the truth!" Stick shook his head. "Yeah, but now I aint got no where to go an' no money for Angela an' the baby! What am I gonna do man! What's she gonna do!"

Harmony Bear approached Stick next and placed a caring paw on his knee. "I think you need to see your family," she said in a stern tone. "My mama been dead five years an' my daddy in jail again," he said between sniffles. "I don't mean them," she said, "I mean Angela and the baby."

Stick could not believe what he was hearing. "You gotta be crazy Harmony girl," he said, staring the bear in the face with frightened eyes. "No, I'm serious!" she repeated in her stern voice. "She sounds like she needs you now just as much as you need her." Stick shook his head. "She aint gonna wanna talk to me after what I just done," he said as his gaze went from the bear's face to the roof beneath his feet. "You won't know unless you talk to her," Harmony continued, "And sitting around on a vacant roof won't get you any closer to talking with her."

Stick lifted his sad head and looked into the bright, encouraging faces of the Care Bear family members standing before him. Never before had he been surrounded by such love, caring, and encouragement. "Okay," he said weakly, "but I know she'll say no." Everyone gave Stick praises, smiles, and encouraging pats on the back as they loaded into the cloud car. Once they had all secured their safety belts, Playful Heart took off for Hershey, PA to see Angela and the baby.

*****

What little hope Teacher Bear had left was beginning to dwindle with every unsuccessful step she took. "Oh where are you Grateful Heart?" she whimpered as looked around in another funeral room full of mourners. People had been giving her dirty looks each time she snooped around in a funeral room, but by now she was starting to learn to ignore them. She just wanted to find Grateful Heart so that she could go see Mrs. Mulcahey and the rest of her family and friends.

Once again unsuccessful, she took a seat in the lobby to think of where the cub could be. "Hmmm…" she thought to herself. "I've checked each funeral room, storage room, bathroom, and any other room I can think of in this place. Where on earth can he be?"

Just then, she saw a familiar and slightly unwelcome face coming through the front door. "You who! Miss Teacher Bear!" came the jolly voice of a waving Mrs. McBride. Teacher Bear gave the shelter keeper a little wave as she continued to sit. Mrs. McBride strolled across the lobby and took a seat next to the navy blue bear. "Are you alright, honey?" she asked when she saw the solemn _expression on the bear's face. Teacher Bear let out a sigh. "No," she said, "I'm not doing okay." "Would you like to talk about it?" Mrs. McBride said, trying to encourage the bear to talk about her problems.

Teacher Bear was at her wits end. She was tired of feeling like she was a bad parent, and the constant parental tips that Mrs. McBride kept giving her made her feel like she was just plain stupid. She looked the shelter keeper dead in the eye, her own eyes reflecting anger and frustration. "No Mrs. McBride!" she exclaimed, all the while tears welling up in her eyes. "I don't want to talk about it! And I don't want your 'how to' on parenting as though I don't know anything about children! For your information, I'm looking for one of them that got lost and I don't think there's anything you can do to help accept to leave me alone!"

Mrs. McBride was shocked at what the little bear had said. "My dear," she said apologetically, "I didn't know you felt this way…" Before she could say anymore, the bear had run toward front door of the funeral home in tears. "I can't do anything right," she groaned to herself as she ran outside. "I'm a terrible guardian. I can't do anything right." Once she was outside, she ran to a bush to sit down and cry.

Chapter 10: Reunited, and it Feels So Good

"Here we are! Hershey, Pennsylvania!" exclaimed Playful Heart Monkey as he flew the cloud car over the town of Hershey. "Where does she live Stick?" Lotsa Heart Elephant added as Playful Heart continued to drive the cloud car deeper into the town. Stick lifted his head up solemnly. "Try Merry Meadows apartments," he said sickly.

Lotsa Heart could plainly see that Stick was nervous about reconciling with his old girlfriend. His skin took on a sickly shade and his posture showed obvious discomfort. What really surprised him was how much Tender Heart Bear looked the same way. The bear's face was riddled with worry as he sat wringing his hands. "Are you guys okay?" the pink elephant asked them, trying to break the silence that had fallen over them. "Yeah," they both said together in unconvincing tones.

Before Lotsa Heart could delve into how the boys were feeling, Playful Heart came upon an apartment complex. "Merry Meadows strait ahead! Which one is it Stick?" he shouted out. Stick swallowed hard as he told the monkey the apartment number. "12B," he said weakly, trying not to throw up.

Playful Heart landed the cloud car in front of one of the complexes. "Don't worry Stick," said Harmony Bear with a smile, "everything is going to be just fine!" Stick wanted to believe the purple bear, but he was beginning to find it more and more difficult as he began to get out of the cloud car. "I don' know if I can do this man," he said as he began to wobble, grabbing the side of the cloud car to help his balance.

Tender Heart gazed sympathetically at Stick as he began to take deep breathes to keep from crying again. "Do you want me to come with you?" he asked. Stick looked up into Tender Heart's eyes. "You'd do that for me man?" he replied, his face beginning to lighten up at the prospect of having someone there to support him. "Of course," he said, smiling tenderly at his new friend.

Stick reached into the cloud car and hugged Tender Heart. "Thank you," he said as his eyes began to leak. Tender Heart simply smiled back. "What are friends for," he said with a small smile as he got out of the cloud car to follow stick to Angela's door.

Everyone else stayed behind in the cloud car. "We'll make ourselves scarce Tender Heart," Playful Heart said as he put the car into drive, "and we'll pick you up when you're done." Tender Heart thanked his friends as he and Stick made their way to apartment 12B.

Stick began wiping off his face with the sleeve of his shirt. "Do I look okay?" he asked as he wiped his nose on his sleeve. "Yeah," said Tender Heart, "you look okay." The two men stopped in front of a white door with gold plated letters that read "12B." Stick took a deep breath. "Now or never," he warbled as he lifted his hand to the gold plated door knocker.

After three knocks, movement could be heard inside the apartment. "Oh God!" Stick whispered at the sound of the movement, his heart racing inside his chest. "Don't worry," came Tender Heart's reassuring whisper, "you'll be alright."

From inside the apartment, Angela was curious to see who was outside knocking at the door. She picked up a blunt object in case it was an intruder. There had been notices posted on every door a few days ago about intruders coming to residents doors, coming to rape and steal. If this was indeed an unwelcome intruder, she would not let them come in to hurt her or her baby.

Slowly she turned the lock on her door and began to open it, peering through the small crack that she had just opened. "Mark! Oh my God!" she exclaimed as she threw open the door. Tender Heart was stunned by the woman before him. She reminded him of a cherub, round and cubby, warm and lovely. Her dark brown eyes glowed with emotion and her shoulder length light brown hair shimmering in the sunlight. He could see why Stick loved her so much.

Stick returned her gaze with far less enthusiasm. "Hi Angie," he said weakly as she stood transfixed at the sight of him. "What on earth…I didn't know…what are you doing here?" she stammered, trying to find what to say. Stick sighed sadly. "Bad news," he began, "you won't be gettin' no more money from Lord Bob. I ain't in dat gang no more. I'm sorry. I messed up again, real bad this time." Stick could no longer look Angela in the eye for the shame he had felt for once again failing her. Tears once again began to roll down his thin cheeks.

Angela placed a comforting hand upon his shoulder. "You didn't miss up, Mark. You came back to me and you quit that awful gang. You wouldn't believe the horrible letters that gang lord would write to me whenever he would send me money that you acquired for him. I would worry myself sick! I wrote back to him, telling him to send you home, but he would always say you were more valuable to him than you were to me!" It was now her turn to cry. Stick could not believe his ears. "You wrote Lord Bob!" he exclaimed threw his own set of tears, "Girl, you got guts!" She could not help laughing and smiling at what he had just said. She embraced him warmly as they cried together. "I missed you so much," she said. "I missed you too. You an' the baby," he replied, stroking her hair.

Once they had sufficiently held each other and kissed a few times, Angela noticed for the first time that they were not alone. "Oh man! I'm sorry," Stick said as he turned to Tender Heart, "Angela, this is Tender Heart. He's kinda the one who jump started me for comin' back to ya." Angela kneeled down to give Tender Heart a hug. "Thank you for bringing him back to me Tender Heart," she said as she hugged him. "What are friends for," he said as he returned the hug.

The moment was broken by the sound of a baby crying. "I've got to go take care of Danny," Angela said in response to the baby's cries. Stick longed to see his son, but he did not want to intrude upon Angela any further than he already had. "Go 'head," he said, not wanting to let the moment end, but also not wanting the baby to suffer because of his wants.

Angela smiled at the young man, knowing that he wanted to see the baby. "Do you want to come in and see the baby?" she asked, already knowing the answer. Stick's eyes lit up. "Yeah! I mean, if it's cool with you," he replied. Angela smiled as she took his hand. "Come in and see your son," she said lovingly. Stick smiled as though we was on cloud nine. She then turned to Tender Heart. "Do you want to come in too?" she asked him. "Thanks, but I need to get back to my own son," he said with a smile, "You two take care of yourselves." Stick scooped Tender Heart up and hugged him one last time. "How can I ever thank you man?" he said as he hugged his friend. Tender Heart smiled at him. "Just do the best you can and I'll be happy. In the mean time, take care of the baby," he said as Stick put him down. "Thanks man," he said in farewell, "an' good luck with your woman."

The door to apartment 12B closed softly. The sound of the lock seemed to echo in Tender Heart's ears. He took a deep breath as he turned to leave, thinking to himself how much he wanted Love-A-Lot to take him back as warmly. He could picture her now, sitting in the rocking chair with Big Heart. He imagined the warm glow of the evening light reflecting upon her blush pink fur, the love light in her eyes. Tender Heart's stomach was in knots as she thought about his son, surrounded by squawking star buddies to protect him if he were to pick him up. "She'll hate me the rest of her life," he thought to himself as he blinked back tears.

"Tender Heart!" called out Harmony Bear, "We saw the whole thing. It was wonderful!" Tender Heart smiled weakly. "Yeah, it was," he said, "I just hope it goes that well with me and Love-A-Lot." He got into the car silently, not making eye contact with anyone as Playful Heart put the car into drive.

*****

Mrs. McBride was terribly worried about Teacher Bear, but she did not feel comfortable confronting her on her own. She felt completely helpless knowing that she had made the bear feel inferior.

Nearby, Father Mulcahey, Charity Heart, Dr. Arnoff, and another older man with a bushy mustache had witnessed the incident. "Oh dear," said Father Mulcahey to the paramedic, "This doesn't look good." Dr. Arnoff nodded in agreement. He remembered how on edge the bear was when he had dropped her and the cubs off at the homeless shelter. "You two know that bear?" asked the man with the bushy mustache. "Yes BJ," said Father Mulcahey, "That's Bluebelle. She took care of my mother for many years before she passed away. Now she's having trouble adjusting to mom being dead. And to top it off, she's adopted seven children much like the one I'm holding." Charity Heart gurgled happily as BJ smiled at her, his bushy mustache puffing out as he grinned. "Poor bear," he said as he affectionately patted Charity Heart on the cheek, "It sounds to me like she's having trouble adjusting to parenthood on top of your mom's death."

Just as BJ had finished giving his two cents on the situation, Mrs. McBride dashed up to them. "Father! Dr. Arnoff!" she said in a rush, "I need your help!" "What happened Mrs. McBride?" asked Dr. Arnoff, trying to calm the eccentric woman down. "Well, I didn't realize it, but I made poor Teacher Bear feel bad," she began. "She said that I make her feel stupid when I've tried to help her or her children and now she won't even talk to me! I want to sort everything out with her, but she doesn't want me to come near her! I don't understand what's going on, but I just want to help and I don't know what to do!"

The _expression on BJ's face seemed to indicate that he knew exactly what was wrong with the little blue bear. "Perhaps I can be of assistance?" he asked the anxious shelter keeper. "Oh of course. And I don't know your name," she said as she held out a greeting hand. "I'm Dr. BJ Hunnicut. I'm an old war friend of Father Mulcahey's," he said as he accepted Mrs. McBride's shaking hand, "And if you don't mind me saying, it sounds to me like she's having more of a problem adjusting to parenting under some pretty rough conditions."

Mrs. McBride had a feeling that old Dr. Hunnicut was on to something. "Do you really think that's the problem?" she asked him. "Let's just say it's a sixth sense from a father of three," he said with a wink and a whiskered smile. With that, he bid farewell to Father Mulcahey, Dr. Arnoff, and Mrs. McBride and went outside to search for the bear in need.

It did not take Dr. Hunnicut long to find just the bear he was looking for. From one of the funeral home's bushes came the terribly distinctive sobs of someone in need. BJ pushed back the thick brushwork to revile the weeping Teacher Bear. "Is this bush taken?" he asked, trying to break the tension in the air between him and his total stranger. "I guess," she responded, barely looking up at BJ as he slowly began to sit on the ground next to her. "Boy they don't make grounds like they used to," he smiled as he landed on the ground with a loud thud.

Teacher Bear smirked a small smile at the silly old man next to her before tearing up again. "You'll ruin your suit," she said as she turned her head away from him. There was an awkward silence between them as they sat. BJ could see that she was trying to hide her tears from him. "So," he began trying to break the silence, " you always cry in bushes?" Teacher Bear dabbed at her moist eyes with her tissue. "I'm not crying," she said unconvincingly. "I'm sure your not," he said, trying to keep the conversation flowing, "That stuffs supposed to be done inside with your family anyway." "I seem to be having a pattern of not doing things right, and they probably don't want to see me anyway," Teacher Bear scoffed, turning her back to BJ as her eyes welled up again.

As Teacher Bear tried to squelch her tears, BJ dug into his back pocket for his wallet. "Can I show you something?" he asked her. "If you want to," she responded weakly. BJ pulled a few photos out of his wallet and handed one of them to the bear. "These are my kids, Erin, Joleen, and Louis. Erin's the oldest, followed by Jo and Louis." Teacher Bear looked at the picture, wondering why this man was showing off his family at a time like this. "Their nice," she said coldly, handing the photo back over her shoulder. Knowing that he had struck a nerve in the problem, he handed her another photo. "This is an even better one of Erin as a baby," he said as she looked at it, "She just turned one and a half in that one when my wife Peg sent it to me." "It's nice too," she said as she tried to hand the picture back to him over her shoulder, BJ not taking it from her this time. "I've got about a million of really nice pictures of her as a baby," he began, "but a picture can't replace my time away from her when she was growing up."

BJ let out a loud sigh, knowing that it was now his turn to be silent so that he could peak the bear's interest. Just as he had planned, the bear stopped trying to give the picture back and started looking at it again. "Why weren't you there?" she asked quietly. "I was miles away fighting a war," he said gently, thinking back to his days in Korea. "I was an army doctor. My job of being a daddy was replaced by being an army surgeon. I was fixing busted up soldiers when I should have been fixing busted up toys." BJ's cheerful tone was replaced one of anger. His eyes began to well up with tears as he told his story. "I remember when one of our men from my unit went home. His plane landed in San Francisco where my family and I live. I had Peg and Erin meet him there. Peg wrote me about their meeting and how Erin called him 'daddy.' She didn't even know who I was!" Tears began streaming down BJ's face as he told her this detail.

Teacher Bear turned back around to see her visitor's crying. She handed him a tissue, which he gratefully accepted with a loud nose blow. "How long were you away?" she asked him as he wiped off his mustache. "A few years," he began again, "and after I came home it was like everything had changed. Erin was so used to having Peg run everything that she and I didn't get along for a while. She got mad at me for not doing things the way she and Peg would do them. Sometimes I got so pigheaded about how I wanted to raise Erin that Peg and I would fight up a storm." Teacher Bear could not help smiling at what the man had to say. "What did you do about it?" she asked. "We talked a lot about how we felt and what we needed to do to make each other happy. At first Erin just wanted me to go away so that she could have Peg all to herself, but as time went on she understood why I was gone while she was little and that I didn't mean to leave." Teacher Bear looked at the man as though he were something spectacular. "I don't know how you did it mister," she said, "but I'm having no luck with my new family."

BJ turned to Teacher Bear and smiled. "First of all, it's Dr. Hunnicut, or BJ if you prefer. And second of all, it didn't happen over night with me and my family. It took a lot of time and patience, for all of us. No one is perfect though, and my advice is don't try to be perfect either. You have show your family that you love them and do the best you can with what you've got."

Suddenly, everything seemed to click for Teacher Bear. "I know you!" she exclaimed, "You were in the war with Francis! He wrote about you several times." BJ smiled a bushy smile at the bear. "Yes, he and your friends Dr. Arnoff and Mrs. McBride needed some parental help from a real parent," he said.

Teacher Bear's half pleasant _expression turned somber at the mention of Mrs. McBride. "I kinda chewed her out a few minutes ago," she said sadly. "Perhaps you should go inside and talk to her," BJ suggested, his pleasant smile glowing with compassion. "I don't know," Teacher Bear said with a long sigh. "I don't want to tell you what to do," said BJ, "but you seem to be figuring it out on your own pretty quickly." Teacher Bear looked confused. "I don't understand you mean," she said. "Sure you do," he said, "Rather than me telling you what to do and how to raise your family, you just sort of seemed to piece things together at your own pace. The best teacher you can ever have is your own life experiences and mistakes, and you seem like you've been learning a lot over the past few days."

Just as Teacher Bear was about to say something, she and BJ heard something from outside the bushes. "Tetur Bar!" it said in excitement as the green hedgehog cub crawled closer. "Grateful Heart!" Teacher Bear said as soon as the hedgehog was in view, "What on earth are you doing out here?" "Tetur Bar!" he repeated, holding out his good arm to be picked up. Teacher Bear picked the cub up and held him close, glad to see that he was alright.

Just as she eased her embrace, the little hedgehog pulled a piece of paper from under his stumpy arm. "Tetur Bar!" he said with even more enthusiasm as he waved the paper in her face. Teacher Bear took a better look what the cub had given her. On the paper was a large blue blob and a smaller green blob, followed by squiggles of other colors. "Tetur Bar!" Grateful Heart said as he pointed at the blue blob. Teacher Bear's eyes once more filled with tears, only this time the tears were that of joy. "Is that a picture of you and me?" she asked him happily. "Geta Hot Tetur Bar!" Grateful Heart continued to smile as he pointed to the picture he had drawn of himself and his guardian. "What'd I tell ya," said BJ, "Love 'em and you'll never go wrong."

Teacher Bear was so happy to know that she was not messing up that she hugged both BJ and Grateful Heart at the same time. "Thank you BJ, and thank you little Grateful Heart for loving me," she said with a smile. "Wub Tetur Bar!" he said with a smile as he hugged his Teacher Bear. "I love you too," she said, "You and all of your brothers and sisters!" BJ smiled contently as the two hugged. "You look like you really learned a lot," he commented as he stretched his long legs out.

Chapter 11: All is Well

Tender Heart Bear sat quietly during the rest of the ride home, dreaming up every possible bad thing that could happen between him and Love-A-Lot Bear as the rest of the passengers chattered away. "It went from a rescue mission to a caring mission," Playful Heart Monkey exclaimed as he turned left and continued upward. "An all out success, and that's the truth!" added Lotsa Heart Elephant enthusiastically. Tender Heart shifted uneasily as Lotsa Heart continued to speak praises about the previous events.

Harmony Bear, who was seated next to the uncomfortable bear, noticed his uneasy silence. "Are you okay?" she asked him, putting her hand on his shoulder. Tender Heart shrugged it off and continued looking over the side of the cloud car. "It's okay Tender Heart," she persisted as he continued to ignore her. "Look at the bight side," continued Harmony, "at least some good came out of it."

Before long, the cloud car had reached a point in the sky where Care-A-Lot was in plain view. "Almost there!" Playful Heart said cheerfully as he proceeded forward. Tender Heart's stomach was doing summersaults as he felt the cloud car move toward his home. "I know Love-A-Lot will be happy to see you," Harmony continued as the car drove toward Care-A-Lot.

Meanwhile on the landing pad, Cozy Heart Penguin had her star-o-scope peeled to the horizon, keeping her eye out for not only the car that would hold Tender Heart and the others, but also for Loyal Heart Dog, Funshine Bear, and Swift Heart Rabbit to return from searching No Heart Castle. Before long, she caught sight of an oncoming cloud car. "I see something!" she exclaimed to some of the others standing nearby. "What do you see Cozy Heart?" asked Brave Heart Lion as he ran up to Cozy Heart's side. "Is it Tender Heart?" asked Friend Bear as he and Secret Bear ran up to Cozy Heart for a better look. "Maybe it's Loyal Heart and the others!" purred Proud Heart Cat as she nudged her way inward toward the already crowded Cozy Heart.

Cozy Heart Penguin crouched down as several sets of paws reached for her star-o-scope. Feeling responsible for the rush, Brave Heart let out one of his world famous roars to stifle the crowd of Care Bears. "Quit crowding Cozy Heart!" he exclaimed to everyone, "We'll all get a turn to see who it is in a few minutes anyway!" Indeed, the cloud car was fast approaching the landing pad. The excited group soon left Cozy Heart, much to her relief, and stood next to where the car would soon be landing. Just as Brave Hear was about to take off and join the others, Cozy Heart turned to him and thanked him for his help. "They would have trampled me!" she exclaimed as she continued to take deep breathes. "What're friends for," he answered with a warm smile.

Inside the car, Playful Heart Monkey began waving and jumping about to show that he and his colleges had indeed been successful in retrieving Tender Heart Bear. In his excitement, the car began to swerve about. "The wheel Playful Heart!" screamed Lotsa Heart in panic as the car began to swerve near one of the landing pads turrets. Playful Heart yelped as he turned the wheel in a sharp right to avoid the obstacle. Everyone who had turned up to see them ducked to the ground, hoping not to be hit by the low flying cloud car.

Once again ready to land, Playful Heart turned the cloud car around for a second try. Harmony Bear's face was beginning to turn green with car sickness as Playful Heart pulled off another stunt in an attempt to land the car. "We're gonna crash! And that's the truth!" yelled Lotsa Heart as Playful Heart went to land again, this time far too quickly. "BREAKS!" the bear and the elephant screamed as the car came closer and closer to the smooth rainbow landing pad, Tender Heart still silent but feeling sicker. As the wheels landed with a loud thud, the car began to spin out of control. "Oh no!" screamed Harmony, throwing her arms around her bended knees as she prepared for the impending crash.

Several Care Bears scurried away from the spinning vehicle as it came to a soft crash against a cloud bank. As the wrecked cloud car dissipated, the dizzy passengers began to grasp the fact that they were finally safe from Playful Heart's crazed driving. "Not bad, eh guys?" giggled Playful Heart as he got to his feet. Harmony Bear shot him a dirty look. "It would have been better if you had kept your hands on the wheel instead of driving around like a circus performer!" she said. Playful Heart continued to giggle. "Oh come on Harmony," he said. "That was one of my better landings!" Harmony rolled her eyes as Playful Heart began a set of blissful cartwheels.

Steadily, bears and cousins began peaking over the cloud bank to see if everyone was alright. "Hi guys!" said Lotsa Heart with a grateful smile. "We landed alive! And that's the truth!" Everyone began to cheer as they shuffled in around the returned group. All but Tender Heart seemed to he happy to be home.

Tender Heart stood up and began shaking his friends hands, a blank _expression showed upon his normally happy face. He was still frightened about facing Love-A-Lot Bear and explaining why he had left. Playful Heart, Lotsa Heart, and Harmony relished upon the retelling the tale of rescue to the rest of the family. Grumpy Bear left the croud to tell Love-A-Lot and Share that Tender Heart had made it home.

A short jog led Grumpy to Love-A-Lot's front door. He could see several star buddies floating inside the window as he rang the doorbell. Inside, he could hear the sound of two babies crying. "Share must be over with Strategy," he thought to himself as he rang the doorbell.

From inside, Love-A-Lot had her hands full with the her crying son. It seemed like no matter what she did, nothing seemed to please him. She had fed him, burped him, and changed his diaper, but that did not make him happy either. She had picked the fussy baby up and put him down in the playpen several times, but nothing seemed to please him. Her heart raced and sweat poured down her forehead as she watched the baby cry. "Would you shut up already!" Love-A-Lot yelled at her son in the playpen. A few star buddies grabbed hold of her shoulders and began to pull her away from the playpen. "What are you guys doing!" she vented on the squawking stars. "He won't shut up!" Her whole body tensed up as the stars continued to pull.

Share Bear, who was having trouble stifling her own child, walked over to her aggravated friend. "Maybe you should just step back for a breather," she said as Love-A-Lot started to swipe at the stars. Taking a deep breath, Love-A-Lot tried to tune out the aggravation.

As Love-A-Lot began taking deep breathes with the stars, a knock could be heard from outside. "Do ya want me to get that for you?" asked Share. "If you don't mind," Love-A-Lot responded haughtily. "Okay," Share said, slightly uncomfortable by the tone in Love-A-Lot's voice.

Share Bear opened the door and was happy to see that her husband was there. "Grumpy!" she squealed happily, flinging her free arm around him. Grumpy Bear hugged and kissed his wife happily as Love-A-Lot Bear made her way to the front door. "Any news about Tender Heart?" she asked, her voice riddled with anguish. Grumpy nodded his head with a smile. "He's home," he said, "He's just over that cloud bank near the landing pad." Love-A-Lot's tired _expression changed to a look of blissful relief. "Oh thank the Great Wishing Star!" she exclaimed as she dashed off to the playpen and plucked her crying son out. "Daddy's home Big Heart!" she said happily as Big Heart continued to cry. With her son cradled in one arm and the baby bag on her other shoulder, Love-A-Lot made her way out the front door. "Thanks again for helping me look after the kids!" she waved back to Share Bear as she made her way down the rainbow road.

*****

After helping Dr. Hunnicut get off the ground, Teacher Bear was ready to go inside. "Oh, boy!" BJ said once he was standing strait up, "I'm definitely not as young as I used to be." Teacher Bear began to giggle. "You have dirt on your butt," she said smiling. BJ turned his head to have a look. "Well would ya look at that," he said as he brushed off his back end. "I'm ready to go in," he said as he finished brushing off the dirt, "how about you?" Teacher Bear nodded with a smile as they made their way to the front door of the funeral home.

Once inside, they made their way to Mrs. Mulcahey's wake room. Upon entering the wake, they were met by Klinger and some more of the cubs. "Hey Teach! I see you found the little guy, and BJ too!" he said as he laid eyes on Grateful Heart and his old war friend. "How's the x-ray job going at the hospital Klinger?" BJ said as he shook his old friend's hand. "Things are great! Lots of broken bones," he said teasingly as the cubs began to beg for their guardian. "Hi kids," she said as Thorough Heart, Passive Heart, Curious Heart and Pretty Heart huddled around her.

Before long, she heard two other very familiar voices behind her. "Bluebelle!" they both said as they came closer. "Francis! Katherine! And my children!" she exclaimed when she saw her family and children. Indeed, the two cubs had missed her greatly as they reached out to her. "Feels good, doesn't it," BJ said as Teacher Bear hugged and cuddled with her many children. "Thank you," she smiled as she and the children continued.

Across the room, Mrs. McBride sat anxiously watching the heart warming spectacle before her. BJ noticed her behavior and excused himself from the group. "Hi Mrs. McBride," he said as he strode over. "How did everything go Dr. Hunnicut?" she asked, wringing her hands nervously. "Well, I think she's still got a lot on her mind that she's not letting out, but it's a start," he said as he joined the shelter keeper in watching. Mrs. McBride let out a sigh. "Let her come to you for an apology," he said as though he could read her sigh. "She was the one who lashed out at you. Heck, it might be good for her. You never know."

As they sat and talked, Father Mulcahey walked with Teacher Bear up to the casket of Mrs. Mulcahey. As Teacher Bear looked into the casket, a small smile came upon her face. "You were right Francis," she said, "Blue is her best color." Her eyes tried to tear up once again as Father Mulcahey hugged her. "I'm going to miss her!" she wept into his shoulder. "So will I," he said, "but she would have been so proud of you."

Teacher Bear took a step back and wiped her moist eyes. "What do you mean by that?" she asked. "Just look at the influence you have had on those children over there," he replied, pointing to the cubs. "You overcame your situation and thought about the welfare of others. Something like that takes a great deal of courage and love you know."

Looking over at Klinger and Dr. Arnoff, who had their hands full with the cubs, she realized that she had made a difference after all. The cubs would have been sitting in cages without her, and Grateful Heart would have died from his injury had it not been for her concern.

Turning back to the casket, she looked once more on upon the woman she had taken care of for so many years. She remembered how much she wanted to be like her when she was growing up. In a way, she felt that she had just had a chance to walk in Mrs. Mulcahey's footsteps, at least for a while.

Father Mulcahey placed his hand upon her shoulder. "I've got to get ready for the funeral mass," he said. "I'll see you in about an hour." Teacher Bear turned to him and thanked him. She then turned back to the casket and said in a whispered voice, "Thank you Mrs. Mulcahey. I'll do my best to make you proud."

*****

As she made her way down the rainbow roads, Love-A-Lot Bear could see a large crowd just over a large cloud bank near the landing pad. "That must be him!" she exclaimed as baby Big Heart Bear's whimpering began to soften. "Ready to go see daddy?" she said to her calming son. Big Heart's eye's drooped as he stuck his thumb in his mouth. Love-A-Lot smiled. "Me too, sweetie," she said as she walked closer to the gathering of Care Bears.

"And so, I drove into a swoop and picked up Tender Heart and a guy named Stick," said Playful Heart Monkey as he retold the great rescue for a crowd of onlookers. Tender Heart Bear sat against the cloud bank, waiting for the crowd to thin so that he could go home without a welcoming parade to make his spirits sink lower. It was just then that he and a few others caught sight of Love-A-Lot. "Hey Love-A-Lot!" yelled out Brave Heart Lion, "Tender Heart's over here!"

Trying to regain his dignity, Tender Heart stood up from his crouching position so that he could see eye to eye with his wife. "Oh Tender Heart!" said Love-A-Lot as she happily approached her husband, showering him with hugs and kisses. Tender Heart half heartedly returned her affection as he bid hello to her. "What happened to you?" she asked him. "I was so worried about you!"

Tender Heart could not believe his ears. "Worried?" he thought to himself, rethinking his last few meetings with his wife and son. "Love-A-Lot worried about me? I thought she was mad!" His timid expressions melted from him, reveling the warm, loving Care Bear that he was known to be. "It's a long, bad story I want to tell you later," he began, "but I missed you and Big Heart a lot." Thankful that Love-A-Lot hadn't ripped his head off, Tender Heart gave her and Big Heart each a hug and kiss. "We missed you too, didn't we Big Heart," Love-A-Lot said as she passed her son onto his father. With sleepy eyes, Big Heart looked into the face of his father. He gurgled contently as Tender Heart held him close. Tender Heart teared up as he held his son, hoping that he would never have the urge to leave him again.

Just as the reuniting moment between husband, wife, and child had begun to get tender, another object was seen in the sky. "Look!" cried out Proud Heart Cat, breaking the marital mood, "It looks like another cloud car!" Everyone scurried toward the landing pad to get a better look at the approaching vehicle.

As the cloud car neared the landing pad, the cheerful voices of Funshine Bear and Swift Heart Rabbit could be heard from the back seat. "Here's one!" exclaimed Swift Heart, "Knock, knock!" By this time, Loyal Heart Dog had had enough of their silliness. "I'm going to knock both your heads together if you don't serious up!" he turned around in his seat and screamed into the back seat, causing the cloud car to drift off course. "Um… Loyal Heart," Swift Heart began to say until she was cut off by the angry dog. "No excuses! We have a serious situation here! We have advanced warning of an attack on Care-A-Lot and all you can think about is nonsensical knock knock jokes!" he continued his speech as the car slowly dipped lower than planned toward Care-A-Lot. "Breaks, Loyal Heart, breaks," Funshine begged as she saw that the car was making a be-line toward the landing tower. "I am NOT giving you a break when we are under attack!" he barked in Funshine's face. "No! Breaks!" she exclaimed, pointing to the tower.

Turning himself back around, Loyal Heart was surprised to see just how close he had gotten to the landing tower in the short time he spent chewing out his friends. Loyal Heart yelped a quick apology as he slammed on the breaks of the cloud car, causing it to stop abruptly before smashing into the tower. "Is everyone alright?" he asked anxiously as he turned around in his seat once more. The two girls let out a sigh of relief as they explained that they were glad to have put on their seat belts.

Once the rest of the family was sure that the cloud car was safe to approach, they began to crowd around it to welcome back the weary explorers. "Fancy driving Loyal Heart," joked Playful Heart as the travelers left the hovering cloud car. "You should talk!" hissed Proud Heart. "You crashed the cloud car you were driving and almost killed Tender Heart!"

At the sound of the name "Tender Heart," Loyal Heart began looking for his friend. "Where is he?" Loyal Heart asked as he pushed his way through the crowd, sniffing for the leader of the Care Bears. "I'm over here," Tender Heart said as Loyal Heart sniffed. Loyal Heart hugged him and then saluted him. "Good to see that you were not in No Heart Castle," he began, "but we've got bigger troubles!" This was the last thing Tender Heart wanted to hear. "Boy, oh boy," he said. "When it rains it pours. Go ahead Loyal Heart."

Just as Loyal Heart was about to talk of the overheard plans, Proud Heart saw something else over the horizon. "What's that?" she exclaimed, pointing to the object in the sky. Loyal Heart squinted up his eyes as he looked at the thing Proud Heart had pointed at. "Great Wishing Star!" he exclaimed. "It's them! Get ready everybody!"

Everyone scrambled around each other with questions and panic. "Wait!" shouted Tender Heart into the pandemonium. "What's going on?" Loyal Heart turned back to his friend. "Beastly and Shrieky plan on dumping a dry cement mix onto Care-A-Lot! They want to turn our home rock solid!"

Chapter 12: A Fresh Start

"In God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Amen," said Father Mulcahey as he finished his funeral service. Taking a bowl of holy water from one of the alter boys, he blessed the casket containing his mother. He then dipped the cepter into the water and proceeded to bless the congregation before him.

Charity Heart, who was sitting in Teacher Bear's lap near the end of the pew, was delighted by the holy water ritual. "Fanci!" she shouted to the priest as he blessed her pew. Father Mulcahey smiled at the fox cub as she reached out for him. "Bless you too little Charity Heart," Father Mulcahey said as he dipped his thumb in the holy water and made the sigh of the cross upon her forehead. Charity Heart then held out her stuffed cow. "Fanci! Maw Maw!" she said as she held it out as though she wanted it to be blessed too. "Bless you too Moo Moo," he said with a smile as he dipped his thumb in the holy water once more to bless the stuffed animal. The church full of people giggled as Father Mulcahey made the sign of the cross on the stuffed cow's forehead, much to Charity Heart's delight. Teacher Bear smiled as Charity Heart hugged the blessed cow happily. "I think she gets it from you Francis," she whispered to the smiling priest.

As Father Mulcahey continued with the blessing, Teacher Bear took the time to look around the church. She was surprised to see so many people attending the funeral mass, most of which being former students that Mrs. Mulcahey had taught. As she looked along the pews full of people, she could see Mrs. McBride trying to look as though she was not looking in her direction.

Klinger, who had spent the better part of the funeral mass trying to stop Hungry Heart from gumming the end of his tie, noticed Teacher Bear looking at the congregation. "Quite a crowd," Klinger whispered to her as she looked around the church. "What? Oh, yes," Teacher Bear responded as soon as she realized Klinger had addressed her.

As she sat and waited for the mass to end, Teacher Bear could not help thinking about how Mrs. McBride kept looking at her and then turning her head whenever her their eyes met. She could not help thinking that perhaps the shelter keeper was angry about the outburst.

Once Father Mulcahey had finished the blessing, he returned to the pulpit to announce that the burial would follow the mass. The visitors began to get up from their seats and file out slowly, some chatting as they went. Once more, Teacher Bear caught Mrs. McBride looking her way.

Teacher Bear turned to Klinger, who at the time was slightly preoccupied with Hungry Heart gumming on the end of his tie, and asked him if he thought that Mrs. McBride was angry with her. Looking at the bear with astonishment he responded, "What makes you say that?" "Well," she began, "I kind of had a fight with her a few hours ago, and I noticed her looking over at me a few times during the mass. I mean, I know she's a pain some times, but she didn't deserve the chew out that I gave her."

Klinger smiled one of his famous Lebanese smiles. "Hey, why don't you go over and talk to her," he suggested as he tugged his tie away from Hungry Heart. "Do you think so?" she asked uncertainly. "Couldn't hurt. Why don't I watch the kids for ya," he responded. Teacher Bear handed him Charity Heart as Hungry Heart once again took hold of his tie and began to gum.

Taking a deep breath, Teacher Bear walked over to where Mrs. McBride stood chatting with BJ. "Hi," she said weakly as she approached the pair. "Hey Miss Bear!" said BJ enthusiastically, hoping to open the conversation up for the two women. "Hi Miss Mulcahey," Mrs. McBride said in a tone that matched Teacher Bear's. "Um…Mrs. McBride, can I talk to you for a moment please?" At this, Mrs. McBride's _expression seemed to change from solemn to slightly anxious. "Sure," she said with a nervous smile. "Will you excuse us Dr. Hunnicut?" BJ smiled a bushy smile at the ladies as he bid them off to chat.

Once they were in a more private area at the back of the church, Teacher Bear took a deep breath and began to talk. "Listen, I'm sorry I went crazy out there," she began before being interrupted. "Oh, don't worry about it!" Mrs. McBride said quickly. "It's the funeral. I know what…" Teacher Bear held up her paw to stop the shelter keeper's talking. "It's more than the funeral," she said as she put her paw back to her side. "Whenever I start to do something with the kids, you jump in and try to fix everything as though I can't handle it. It really makes me feel incompetent, like I'm not a good guardian for the children."

Mrs. McBride sat speechless in her pew as she heard these words. "I didn't know that my helping made you feel like that," she said weakly, her throat dry with guilt. "Well, it does," Teacher Bear continued. "I know I'm new at this, but I do know a thing or two about children. Granted, I did not know the thumb on the cheek thing, but I do know a thing or two about children." Mrs. McBride stopped making eye contact as Teacher Bear finished what she had to say. "I'm sorry," she said, gazing blankly at the floor, "but I thought that since you were new with the children that maybe I could help."

Seeing the guilt in Mrs. McBride, Teacher Bear softened up a bit. "I guess we both have something to be sorry about," she said sympathetically. Mrs. McBride could not help smiling a bit at the little bear's sympathy.

Since Teacher Bear had decided to share her thoughts, Mrs. McBride decided that she wanted to share what she was thinking. "Can I tell you something?" Mrs. McBride asked. "Okay, sure," Teacher Bear said curiously. Mrs. McBride took a deep breath as she began. "I didn't originally start out as a shelter keeper. I started going to school to become a child psychologist." "Really?" Teacher Bear said, surprised to hear this. "What drew you to the shelter?"

Mrs. McBride looked sadly down at the floor again. "My mother had a heart attack my sophomore year of college. Since money was short after that, I had to drop out of school because we were unable to pay for it. I took on a job at a shelter which ended up being the one I am now in charge of. But, I don't regret doing this. After all, I met Butler during this time when he was the janitor. Anyway, the reason I say this is because I sort of saw myself in your shoes when you came into my shelter. You took care of someone you cared for, just like I did with my mother. You said you wanted to be a teacher, just like I wanted to be a psychologist. You're taking care of a large group of children whereas I take care of a large group of people. I couldn't help feeling for you. I was afraid that you felt you couldn't accomplish your dreams because you were bogged down by your children the way I am with my job and my finances. Do you see what I mean?"

Teacher Bear nodded as she listened to what the shelter keeper had to say. "That's very kind of you to think of me like that," she said numbly, not knowing what else to say. "I really hope all goes well with you Teacher Bear," Mrs. McBride said as she wiped her eyes with a tissue. "Thank you," Teacher Bear said, "but I'll tell you what. Next time I'm doing something with the kids, ask if you can help rather than jump right in. Okay?" The shelter keeper nodded in agreement and promised that she would do the best she could to honor her friend's wishes.

As the two women shook hands in mutual respect, Father Mulcahey poked his head into the church. "Are you two coming?" he asked. "Oh my! Yes!" Teacher Bear exclaimed as she and Mrs. McBride got themselves ready to go to the burial of Mrs. Mulcahey.

*****

"Almost there fur ball!" Shrieky exclaimed with glee as Beastly pedaled a large flying contraption closer to his target. "Oh!" he huffed, "I'm getting tired and I've got a cramp in my leg!" Shrieky was getting frustrated at the little creature as he complained of his aches and weariness. "Well if you pedal faster, you can dump the load quicker!" she yelled as she used her magic mirror on the creature. Beastly yelped as a lightning bolt shot from Shrieky's mirror and hit him on his bottom. "Right away Shrieky!" he exclaimed as he quickened his pace despite how his body felt.

Meanwhile, the Care Bear family had already begun lining in order to defend their home against the slow moving contraption. Seeing as how Loyal Heart Dog knew the most about what was going on, Tender Heart Bear let him be in charge of the defense. "Secret Bear!" shouted Loyal Heart, "I need you over here! You're too close to the edge of the clouds!" Obediently, Secret Bear made his way to his designated spot and saluted the dog.

Once he had finished saluting, Secret Bear began to pantomime a something to Loyal Heart, which the dog was having trouble understanding. "What are you trying to tell me Secret?" he asked as Secret Bear repeated his pantomimed sequence. Loyal Heart scratched his head. "I don't get it. Is little Timmy trapped in the well or something?" Secret Bear shook his head and tried again.

As Secret Bear tried once more to pantomime to him, Loyal Heart could not help looking into the horizon at the slowly approaching vesicle. Giving up on the pantomime routine, he decided to call out to Friend Bear. "Hey Friend Bear!" he shouted, "I need you over here next to Secret!" Friend Bear smiled as he made his way next to his dear friend. When Friend arrived, Secret whispered something in his ear. "Loyal Heart," Friend said, "Secret says that he thinks you are doing a great job leading us!"

Loyal Heart sighed as he thanked his friends. "Let's save the complements for later," he said, "That ship may be moving slow, but it will be here before we know it." He then turned back to the crowd. "Okay people, lets hassle! We haven't got all afternoon before it's close enough to do damage!"

Standing off on the sidelines and surrounded by a pack of protective star buddies, Share Bear, Cheer Bear, Love-A-Lot Bear and Tender Heart Bear stood with their children. Grams Bear was holding Hugs and Tugs by their paws as they watched Loyal Heart prepare the family for the attack. "What's gonna happen Grams?" Tugs asked as he watched the commotion. "I don't know my little darling, but I'm sure it's nothing Loyal Heart can't handle," she replied with a hopeful smile. She understood Tug's doubt. After all, she too was used to the way Tender Heart Bear ran things in this sort of situation.

Grams was not the only one who seemed to be thinking along these lines. Tender Heart had a set of his own worries as far as the situation was going. Not that he was concerned about Loyal Heart Dog handling things, but he was just mad at himself for not being able to handle the situation like he was supposed to have. After all, he was the leader of the Care Bear family. "I should never have left home!" he kept thinking to himself. "I should have been ready for this and I wasn't, and it's all because I got freaked out and ran away!"

Love-A-Lot saw the frustration in her husband's face. "Tender Heart," she asked as she approached him, "are you alright?" Tender Heart turned to look at his wife, wanting to lie about being alright. As soon as he caught sight of his son resting his head on her chest, he could not see it in his heart to say the lie that he was thinking. Taking a deep breath, he began to explain how he felt. "I should have been ready for something like this," he said as he fought back tears. "Oh Tender Heart," Love-A-Lot said sympathetically, placing a paw on his shoulder, "You couldn't have known this was going to happen. We all just found out." "It's not that," Tender Heart said as he stared at the clouds under his feet. "If I hadn't run away from home, I would have been able to get everyone ready to defend themselves. And more importantly, I wouldn't have failed you and Big Heart."

It was getting harder and harder for Tender Heart to keep himself from crying as he spoke. "I messed up so badly!" he said as he wiped at his stubborn eyes. "Big Heart almost got hurt and you were so mad at me, and I panicked and ran! I'm so ashamed of myself!"

Share, Cheer, Grams, Hugs, and Tugs all watched in awe as Tender Heart confessed his self disappointment to his wife. Love-A-Lot put her arm around his shoulder and held him. "I'm sure my impatience hasn't helped you," she admitted as she put her head on his shoulder. "I even lost my temper with Big Heart moments before I found out you were back. A few star buddies had to hold me away from him." Her eyes began to well up as the baby began to squirm.

Tender Heart looked his wife in the eyes. He did not think that she could ever have hurt their child. "You lost your temper with Big Heart?" he asked as he put his arm around her. Love-A-Lot shamefully nodded. "Share says I'm going through post pardom depression. She says that all new mothers get it, but I don't like it in the least bit," she explained.

As the two bears held each other close, Big Heart perked his head up and looked at his father. Tender Heart looked back at his son, glad to see him again. "Hey little guy," he said softly, placing a paw on the baby's cheek. Big Heart smiled as his father touched him. "Do you want to hold him?" Love-A-Lot asked as she watched the tender moment. Tender Heart nodded as he took his son from his wife.

Just as things were beginning to get better with Tender Heart and Love-A-Lot, the flying cement machine had begun to advance upon Care-A-Lot. Loyal Heart was running around like mad, giving orders left and right. "Get ready everybody!" he exclaimed as the Care Bear family lined up as they were instructed. "Countdown! 4-3-2-1, Care Bear Stare! Care Bear Cousin Call!"

Bright flashes of light emitted from the family's tummy symbols as they aimed at the flying concoction. Shrieky's screeches could be heard from inside as she yelled at Beastly. "Dump the load! NOW!" she instructed. "B…b…but Shrieky, I thought we were gonna spread it all over Care-A-Lot," Beastly hesitated. "All of it! NOW!!!" she persisted. Beastly did as he was ordered, pressing a large red button that released the dry cement mixture upon a portion of Care-A-Lot.

With the load dumped, the flying machine was much lighter, allowing it to be easily pushed away by the Stares and Calls from the Care Bear family. As the flying machine hurtled through the skies toward the direction of No Heart Castle, Shrieky could be heard screaming her aggravations at Beastly.

Everyone cheered as they watched the flying machine disappear into the horizon, that is, everyone accept Loyal Heart. He was more focused on the mess the machine had left behind. Tender Heart and the others that stood off in the sidelines ran up to congratulate Loyal Heart's efforts.

Loyal Heart stuck a paw into the goopy mess. "Ewww," he said as he picked up a paw full of cement mixture, "it's like oatmeal." Tender Heart couldn't help laughing at his friend. "Look at the bright side," he said with a smile, "at least it's in one spot and not all over Care-A-Lot." Loyal Heart smiled back. "You know, you're right," he said as he tossed back the handful of mushy concrete.

Hugs and Tugs were excited by the quagmire of concrete. "It looks like a big mushy sand box," said Hugs as she examined the mess. This gave her brother a fun idea. He looked over at Grams Bear, who was having a conversation with True Heart Bear, to see if he could get away with what he was thinking. "Hey Hugs!" exclaimed Tugs. "Last one in is a rotten egg!" Hugs smiled as her brother did a cannon ball into the mixture. "Oh goddie goddie gosh!" she exclaimed as she jumped in after Tugs.

Grams turned around from her conversation with True Heart to discover what the twins had gotten into. "Hugs and Tugs!" she said in a very disappointed tone. "You get out of there this instant!" Looking as innocent as they could, the twins made their way out. Loyal Heart could see that they were in for a royal chew out, so he decided to help make the best of the situation. "Hey Grams," he asked the old bear, "since these two are already covered, why don't they help out with the clean up." The two cubs perked up at the possibility of getting back into the mushy mess. "Can we Grams Bear? Pleeeeeeeeeeease?" they begged in unison. Grams sighed. "Alright," she said, "but when we get home, you two are still in trouble." The two cubs jumped for joy. "Thank you Loyal Heart!" they said as they hugged the blue dog, leaving mushy concrete all over his fur. Grams smiled as the cubs danced around. "It doesn't matter how old they are," she addressed Tender Heart and Love-A-Lot, "you just have to roll with the punches."

Loyal Heart turned to the rest of the family. "If anyone else wants to help out, I would suggest you grab lots of shovels and buckets from the Hall of Hearts. We've got a big job ahead of us," he said as he tried wiping some of the concrete left over from the twin's hug. Turning back to Tender Heart and Love-A-Lot, he said, "I think perhaps you two should sit this one out." Tender Heart agreed. "Besides, I still want to talk some more with Love-A-Lot."

Love-A-Lot looked a bit nervous. "Don't worry honey," he said in response to her reaction. "We just need to talk some about how we feel rather than running away again from our problems. Besides, I want to tell you all about what happened while I was on earth!"

Chapter 13: Day By Day

Assembled in David Drury's office of law stood Father Mulcahey, Sister Angelica, Teacher Bear, and a few other members of Mulcahey Family for the reading of Mrs. Mulcahey's will. The lawyer, Mr. Drury, stood up and took roll of everyone who was supposed to be present for the reading. "I'm going to call out your names to see if you are here," he explained as he held out a list of people who were in the will.

"Francis Mulcahey," he called out. Father Mulcahey raised his hand to show that he was present. "Katherine Mulcahey," he called out. Sister Angelica did the same. "Bluebelle Mulcahey," he continued. Teacher Bear did as her family members did. "Michael Doherty," he said as he went down the list. Mrs. Mulcahey's brother lifted his hand in acknowledgement. "Frank and Violet Doherty and your children Mary and Joshua," he continued. Mrs. Mulcahey's nephew and wife acknowledged themselves as well as their children.

With the small list of guests finished, the lawyer addressed them all. "I want to thank you all for coming," said Mr. Drury. "As you all know, Mrs. Dorothy Mulcahey has passes away and has left each of you something in her will. She has left the following."

Looking at the written will, he began to read off what had been left to whom. "To my brother Michael and his family I leave my fine china, my good silverware from Ireland, my record collection, my antique record player, and several pictures from our childhood together." Michael became angry. "The house is destroyed!" he exclaimed. "What am I supposed to do?" Mr. Drury put up his hand to calm the man. "We'll settle this later," he said as he proceeded with the reading of the will.

"For my nephew Frank I leave you the contents of my tool shed. I know it is not much, but I know how much you love to build things. I hope this will help you." Frank now became angry. "The tool shed is gone!" he blurted out. "Well I'm sure Mrs. Mulcahey did not expect to die from a tornado and have it destroy most of what she left in her will," he said flatly as Frank took back to his seat.

"To my niece in law Violet I leave my jewelry, my clothing, and my finest furs." Violet gave a sour look as her portion of the will was read, knowing that these things had been destroyed in the storm.

"To my great niece and nephew Mary and Joshua I leave you each with $500 to help you with college." Joshua and Mary looked pleased with what they had received, unlike the rest of the family.

"To my eldest son, Francis Mulcahey, I leave you with $2000, several photographs of your choice, and my collection of books." Father Mulcahey smiled sadly as he heard these words. He knew that the money would be able to go toward a needy cause. Though he was happy to be receiving what his mother had left him, he knew he would miss her greatly.

"To my daughter, Katherine Mulcahey, I leave you with $2000, several photographs of your choice, any clothing that Violet leaves behind, and all the old toys left in the basement. I'm sure that your seminary could find a use for the old clothes and toys." Sister Angelica nodded happily at the thought of clothing the homeless with her mother's generosity. Had there not been a storm, the old clothes and toys would have greatly benefited the needy. She was happy to see that her mother had thought about people in need, but like her brother, she was saddened to hear her mother's last written words.

"Lastly, to Bluebelle Mulcahey, I leave the remainder of the house and contents, the car, and $15,000 that I have set aside specifically for your education over the years. I know that you spent much of your adult life taking care of me when you should have been taking that time to fulfill your dreams of teaching. May this money help compensate for those lost years. I hope that you are able to fulfill your dream of becoming the first bear ever to teach."

Teacher Bear sat numbly in her seat as the rest of the family looked at her. The last thing she was expecting to get from the will was $15,000 to go toward her education. She could not help thinking how that money could help even more with the cubs. Some members of the family seemed jealous of what the bear had gotten.

As Mr. Drury dismissed everyone, Father Mulcahey and Sister Angelica walked out with their dear friend. "Congratulations Bluebelle," Sister Angelica said as she hugged the bear on the way out. "I know mom really appreciated all you did for her after her heart started giving her problems." Teacher Bear nodded sadly as they all met up with Klinger, Mrs. McBride, and the carriage full of cubs.

"Hey Teach!" said Klinger as soon as he spotted her. "How'd it go?" Teacher Bear took a deep breath. "She left me $15,000 for my education," she said meekly. Mrs. McBride's jaw dropped. "That's wonderful!" she exclaimed, patting the bear on the back. "Indeed," Father Mulcahey added, "now you can go to school like you always wanted to, Bluebelle." Teacher Bear began to cry as her friends praised her. "I can't go back school," she explained. "I've got to take care of the kids. And we've got to find somewhere to live now that the house is gone."

Klinger looked at Father Mulcahey, hoping that the old priest had an answer. "Well…" Father Mulcahey said hopefully, "maybe you could come back to River Bend, Missouri with Klinger and I." Teacher Bear looked doubtfully at the old priest. "Where am I going to stay?" she asked. "I don't think the hospital's seminary is going to want to hold me and seven babies." Mrs. McBride placed a loving hand on the bear's shoulder. "My shelter is always open to you dear," she said encouragingly.

Just then, Klinger got a brilliant idea. "Wait a second, I got just the place!" Klinger said with a satisfactory smile. "You and the kids can stay with Soon Lee and me until ya get on your feet." Teacher Bear looked as though she could not believe her friend's generosity. "Oh Klinger, do you really mean it?" she asked, almost unable to speak. "Sure," he said with a smile. "We can catch the next flight out if you want." "That would be great!" Teacher Bear exclaimed, beside herself with glee.

Teacher Bear hugged Klinger, thanking him over and over. Father Mulcahey, Sister Angelica, and Mrs. McBride joined in hugging Klinger. "It'll be great," he said to all his friends, "It's been a long time since me and Soon Lee have heard the pitter patter of little feet."

Mrs. McBride smiled happily at Teacher Bear. "We can call the airport to see when the next flight is when we get back to the shelter. It shouldn't take you too long to get your things packed either," the shelter keeper said cheerfully. Teacher Bear hugged Mrs. McBride. "Thank you so much!" she said. "My pleasure," the shelter keeper responded. "I'm just so glad that you have the opportunity to make your dreams come true."

*****

"Goooood Morning Seattle! It's now 8:32 in the a.m. and if you're not up right now experiencing this rare and beautiful sunshine, than you…" Tender Heart Bear punched the button on the Mueller Morning Show. He stretched and rolled over in bed to face his sleepy Love-A-Lot Bear. "Morning Love-A-Lot," he said to his wife as he wrapped his arm around her. "Good morning Tender Heart," she replied, kissing him. "Ready for a fresh new day?" Tender Heart nodded sleepily, happy to see that things were looking up.

As the two bears lay in bed holding each other, Big Heart's star buddy flew in through the bedroom door to notify them that their son needed a diaper change. Tender Heart smiled. "I'm ready for a fresh new day, and Big Heart's ready for a fresh new diaper," he said as turned to get out of bed. "Why don't we go see him together," Love-A-Lot suggested as she turned the covers. "I think that's a great idea," Tender Heart said with a smiled as the star buddy squeaked.

The two bears held hands and followed the star buddy down the hallway to Big Heart Bear's bedroom. Inside, the baby bear cried for a diaper change. Love-A-Lot went to the crib as Tender Heart prepared the bassinette. "It's okay Big Heart," Love-A-Lot said tenderly as she picked the baby up out of the crib. "Yeah little guy," added Tender Heart, "we're here to take care of you."

As Love-A-Lot placed the whimpering cub on the bassinette, Tender Heart softly rubbed the baby's cheek and began to hum softly to calm him down. "What's that you're humming?" asked Love-A-Lot as she grabbed a fresh diaper and a packet of baby wipes. "Somewhere Over the Rainbow," he replied as he grabbed the baby powder. "I thought that he might like it." Love-A-Lot smiled. "I think it's a nice idea," she said as she began to hum along while changing the baby's diaper.

Sure enough, the humming seemed to make Big Heart feel relaxed. As soon as his diaper change was complete, Big Heart looked up and smiled at his parents. "I think he likes it," Love-A-Lot commented on her husband's humming. "I bet he'd like it if we sang together," he said as she picked the cub up from the bassinette. "Do you think so? I don't think I remember all the words," she said, looking kind of embarrassed. "It's okay," he said, wrapping his arms around her and Big Heart. "You'll do fine honey," he said as he kissed her cheek. "Besides, if he loves you as much as I do, than he'll think your wonderful." Love-A-Lot returned her husband's kiss. "I love you too Tender Heart," she said as she cleared her throat to sing.

Holding each other and the baby close, the two bears began to sing.

"Somewhere over the rainbow,  
Way up high,  
There's a land that I heard of  
Once in a lullaby.

Somewhere over the rainbow,  
Skies are blue.  
And the dreams that you dare to dream  
Really do come true."

Before long, Big Heart was sleeping peacefully in their arms as they continued to rock back and forth and sing to him.

To be continued…

Works Sited

Most important to me is giving credit to whom it belongs.

Father Mulcahey is my favorite character from the very popular television show M*A*S*H. His sister Katherine, also known as Sister Angelica, is only mentioned in the show, mostly through the mail. (Those letters were nicknamed 'nun-o-grams" rather than telegrams. ^_^) M*A*S*H is loosely based on a real Mobile Army Surgical Hospital (the 8055th) in Uijongbu, South Korea that was stationed three miles from the front lines of battle during the Korean war, 1950-1953. M*A*S*H also happens to be my all time favorite television show, although that doesn't keep me from loving the Care Bears!

Although M*A*S*H was very successful, all good things must come to an end. After an impressive 11 season run, M*A*S*H concluded. Some of the actors in the show did not like seeing the show end and were able to persuade the directors to create a spin off show that came to be called After M*A*S*H. After M*A*S*H was not nearly as successful as it's predecessor and was canceled during it's second season.

The Care Bears and Care Bear Cousins are property of American Greetings and Nelvana, as you all know.

I got the name "Bluebelle" from my mother. That's what she called her first car! ^_^

I do not know if Saint Anne's Homeless Shelter exists. I created it for my fan fic. I also made up Merry Meadows Apartment complex.

"Rhapsody in Blue" is a symphony by George Gershwin. It's my favorite symphony!

"Would You Like to Swing on a Star" is by Jimmy Van Heusen and Johnny Burke. It has been popularized by Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra.

"Cement Mixer" is by Slim Gaillard

David Drury is the name of my family's lawyer.

The Mueller Morning Show is not a real radio program. I got the idea from a wild and crazy guy from my high school's drama dept. Greg Mueller is a very nice person, but he can wear the patience off the saints of peace.

I have some product placement in this fan fic. Tuppermaid, Budweiser, and Commerce Bank are not mine of course, so please do not sue me!

Janet's work salutation came from the book Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehernreich.

I used the Great Wishing Star as the Care Bear's reference to God.

BJ's talking to Teacher Bear in the bushes comes from the M*A*S*H episode "Period of Adjustment." I embellished a bit on BJ coming home and having problems, but I have heard of such a thing happening to families after wars.

"Somewhere Over the Rainbow" is from The Wizard of Oz. The song is by Harold Arlen and EY Harburg.

I would like to thank my friends for all their help with getting this story off the ground: Robert (Good Luck Bear) for taking the time to read it over and over as I sent him numerous rough drafts, and Amber (Take Care Bear) for being the first one to hear about my fan fic idea and for helping with some of my draft work Thank you all for your suggestions in the story. It would not be what it is if it hadn't been for you!

Also, to anyone who reads this long fan fic, thank you very much! After all, if it wasn't for you readers, there would be no point in writing. Now give your weary eyes a break! lol. THANKS!


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